This species grows as a small tree to some 5 metres tall, or sometimes a liane or scrambler to 10.5 m, and is found in low-altitude woodland (250 – 1110 m).

It occurs in Sudan, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in South Africa.

[1] Leaves are 3.5 x 1.5 cm, obovate to oblanceolate with acute apex and decurrent base, and minutely puberulous on veins of lower surface.

Calyx small and much shorter than corolla, glabrous to scabrid-pubescent; lobes up to 2.5 mm long, lanceolate.

[3] The genus Hymenodictyon dates back to 1824 and was created by Nathaniel Wallich, the Danish botanist and Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Garden, and its description was included in William Roxburgh's Flora Indica.