[2] The flowers are in spikes or panicles,[3] or in 3-7-flowered,[5] cymules aggregated into long raceme-like cymes.

[3] The flower calyx is deeply 5-lobed,[2][3][4] with narrow,[3] or linear-lanceolate or filiform (thread-like) shaped lobes.

[3] The fruit or seed capsule is club-shaped,[3] with solid stalk-like basal part.

[3] They are situated on prominent hook-shaped retinaculas (thick fibres), without hygroscopic hairs.

It is found in Angola, Botswana,[2] Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa (in KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Provinces) Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre and Zimbabwe.

[7] The genus name of Ruspolia is in honour of Eugenio Ruspoli (1866–1893), an Italian explorer and naturalist.