Dilatris is a genus of four species of evergreen perennial herbaceous plants of up to 60 cm (2.0 ft) high, that are assigned to the bloodroot family.

The plants have hairless, line- to lance-shaped leaves set in a fan that emerges from a red or orange coloured rootstock.

[1][2] The species of Dilatris are evergreen, perennial herbaceous plants with a short underground rootstock that is bright red or orange inside.

The stem carries few leathery, softly or, in D. viscosa, glandularly hairy bracts that enclose the branches at their base.

The not or lightly scented perianth is star-symmetrical, saucer- or cup-shaped, and consist of six free, long-lived tepals that become papery after flowering.

[1] Dilatris viscosa has leaves that are mostly more than 6 mm (0.24 in) wide, stems that are covered in red, gland-tipped hairs, leafy and somewhat swollen bracts, nodding flower buds, a star-shaped perianth that consists of six line- to lance-shaped tepals that are dirty yellow on the inside, stained orange on the back.

Dilatris ixioides has leaves that are mostly 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide, stems that are covered in white hairs without glands, bracts that are dry or cartilaginous higher on the stem, upright flower buds, a wide cup-shaped perianth consisting of six mauve tepals, each with two or three gland-dots near their tips, stamens that are 1½–2 times longer than tepals, the large anther 2.5–4 mm (0.098–0.157 in) long, about 3–4 times longer than smaller anthers.

[1] Peter Jonas Bergius was the first to describe a species of bloodroot in 1767 and he named it Dilatris corymbosa based on a collection from the Cape of Good Hope.

[3] The most recent common ancestor of the species of Dilatris is estimated to have lived about 9 million years ago.

D. pillansii is present from southern Cape Peninsula, via Hottentots Holland and the Kogelberg, along the Kleinrivier Mountains to the hills near Bredasdorp all the way to the Potberg in the east.