[3] Hendrik J. T. Venter[4] and Rudolf L. Verhoeven,[5] the botanists who first formally described the species named it, using the synonym Raphionacme lobulata, after the distinctive lobes of the corona of its flowers.

Its slender, hairless stems are up to 12 meters long and pale mauve to red when young but turn grey when older.

The upper surface of the leaves are glossy and dark green and the margins are rolled downward.

Its flowers have 5 triangular sepals that are 2–3 by 2 millimeters with pointed tips and margins that are fringed with hairs.

Its corona has 5 yellow, fleshy, columnar lobes that are shaped like a broad, inverted heart and are 0.5–1 by 2 millimeters.

The flowers have 5 stamen that have 0.5 millimeters-long filaments that are fused to the inner base of the corona lobes.

The young fruit are glossy and green, but become pale yellow and wrinkled with age.

The seeds are concave on one side and convex on the other, finely wrinkled with a dark central ridge.