The dense rosette of leaves, either prostrate or ascending, is heavily blotched with purple, and the leaf-edges are markedly crisped or wavy.

The star-shaped burgundy flowers appear in midsummer (November–January in South Africa), and are borne on a spike (raceme) topped by a "head" of leafy bracts.

[1] The species was first collected in 1937 by the amateur botanist Frederick Ziervogel van der Merwe in western Mpumalanga.

[2][5] Eucomis vandermerwei has been assessed as "vulnerable" in the Red List of South African Plants, and the population is declining.

Threats include its habitat being converted to forestry, overgrazing and trampling, poor fire control and alien vegetation.

[5] In temperate areas such as Britain, E. vandermerwei requires a sheltered position in full sun, in a spot where temperatures do not fall below −5 °C (23 °F), for instance in southern and south-western coastal parts.