It produces four large (12 x 12 cm), fleshy leaves which lie flat on the ground and form a basal rosette.

In spring it produces paddle-shaped leaves that appress to the soil when fully formed, similar to water-lily pads.

Flowers are bright yellow with a crisped margin, and some 9 cm across, with a large staminodial labellum, and resembling those of a pumpkin.

[2] The rhizomes, which are covered in brown papery scales which are hairy in their lower half, lengthen, spreading below ground level to form new offshoots.

[3] This geophyte is found over much of tropical Africa in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.