Cormous geophyte up to 40cm. The Ferraria genus is characterized by its tough, long-lived corms lacking visible tunics and accumulating from year to year in a chain. Leaves 8-12mm wide, slightly fleshy, overlapping, partly concealing the branched, straight or slightly twisted stem. Flowers dull-coloured and speckled, about 35mm across, with crinkled tepal margins. Flowers are 'very fugitive and last scarcely through half a day of sunshine'. Flowers are carrion scented when fully open, the whole drying to an inky black, hence the common names Aasuintjie (Afr: aas = bait) and Inkpotjie (Afr: = little inkpot). The common name Spinnekopblom refers to the flowers coloured markings said to resemble a common veld spider (Afr: spinnekop = spider).

Latin: crispus = curled, crinkled: referring to the crinkled tepal margins.

Ferraria bulbs were introduced into Dutch gardens about a dozen years before van Riebeeck's arrival at the Cape in 1652.

After: Giovanni Battista Ferrari (1584-1655), Italian botanist, entered the Jesuit order in Rome in 1602 and was a horticultural advisor to the papal family. He was the first scientist to provide a complete description of the limes, lemons and pomegranates and their use in preventing scurvy.