F. nodosa’s appearance is characterised by dense clusters of long green stems topped with small, rounded flowers often remaining throughout the year.

[4] The flowers appear as brown-orange clumps just below the tip of the stems, with hemispherical spikelets of 7–20 mm in diameter sitting underneath a bract.

[5] The fruit, found within the flower-heads, are an irregularly shaped dark brown to black nut with a diameter of approximately 1 mm.

[5] Ficinia nodosa flowers in the summer season of the Southern Hemisphere, between September and December, while the seeds appear for a longer period between November and May.

[7] Despite the classification as Ficinia due to the presence of a gynophore and distribution, some researchers suggest a wider range of plants of similar structure need to be studied to come to a decisive agreement about F.

[6] Ficinia nodosa is known to grow natively in South Africa,[11] Australia, and New Zealand, including the Kermadec, Three Kings, Stewart, and Chatham Islands.

[6] Across the range of F. nodosa, the plant grows in sparsely populated coastal regions such as sand dunes and sedgelands but is also found in alpine climates of New Zealand up to 700 metres above sea level.

[13][14] In South Africa, F. nodosa grows across the east coast,[11] and is common in numerous locations on the Cape Peninsula, and around the Orange River.

[18] On New South Wales coast in Australia, F. nodosa appeared to be inhibited by the presence of bitou bush extracts in the soil in which the plant was growing.

[16] If grown alongside Phragmites australis, Sarcocornia quinqueflora, and Baumea juncea, the shoots and roots of the plant could be harvested to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations.

[8] F. nodosa is commonly recommended as a sand binder or as a mixed landscape feature around bodies of water such as filtration beds and ponds in the native regions of Victoria, and South Australia.