The outer whorl of bracts that encircle the flower heads are green and leafy in texture, line- to lance-shaped, 1½–2 cm (0.6–0.8 in) long and 2–4 mm (0.08–0.16 in) wide.

The segments in the upper part (or limbs), which enclosed the pollen presenter in the bud, are difficult to distinguish from the claws, threat- to line-shaped with a pointy tip, initially felty, but later losing some hair.

[3] The cryptic pagoda can be distinguished from other Mimetes species by its small size, the two types of shoots, one unbranched upright, the other occasionally forking and sprawling, the leaves that stand out on the lower parts but are very tightly overlapping near the inflorescence and the relatively short (3½ cm), straight, line- to awl-shaped styles.

Richard Anthony Salisbury in a book by Joseph Knight titled On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae, described several species of pagoda, naming Niven's specimen M. palustris in 1809.

Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher collected a specimen in the Kleinrivier Mountains, that was described by Carl Meissner, in 1856, in the series Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis by Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle.

[3] Mimetes palustris is an endemic species restricted to the Kleinrivier Mountains, Western Cape province of South Africa, where it can be found between the Platberg in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve near Hermanus in the west and slightly east of the Rocklands Peak.

[3] Mimetes palustris can only be found on south-facing slopes in part-shade in locations where an updraught from the sea create cool and moist air during summer.

[6] The cryptic pagoda is considered critically endangered due to its diminishing population size, its small distribution area of 26 km2 (10 sq mi), ongoing loss of habitat and competition by alien invasive species.