Geophyte up to 2m with reddish tuberous roots, often found in dense stands. Leaves hairless, pleated and lanceolate, up to 80mm wide; flowers in a cylindrical, dense inflorescence, bright, golden yellow and hairy and borne in clusters on delicate side shoots, flowering stem thick and hairy.

Plants are never without flowers during the flowering season, flowers wither in the late afternoon and new buds open early each morning.

Pollinated by bees and long-proboscid flies.