[3] Johannes Müller Argoviensis,[4] the botanist who first formally described the species, named it after an invalid nomen nudum, Hortsmania pubiflora, previously offered by George Bentham.

Its reddish-brown, slender, cylindrical, tapering branches have small gold-colored warty bumps, or sometimes lenticels.

Its dark, grooved petioles are 2–6 millimeters long and covered in soft to coarse, golden-brown hairs.

The branches of the inflorescences have gold-colored to orange-brown, triangular bracts that are covered in soft to velvety hairs.

The 5 white to cream-colored petals are fused at their base to form a 1.5–2 by 1 tube that is constricted at the top and then expands abruptly into 2–5 by 1–2 millimeter spreading lobes.

Its woody, fruit are divided into two long, sections that are covered in dense, soft, gold-colored hairs.