Rounded dense shrub or small tree up to 4m. Bark is thick, reddish-grey to dark grey, branches are characteristically crooked and interlocking hence common name Kreupelhout. Leaves deep green, apex rounded, except for 3-10 teeth just below the apex, the teeth are often reddish in colour. Flowerheads very showy up to 10cm in diameter, flowers large up to 5cm long, butter-yellow, styles up to 5.5cm long.

This tall, tree-like shrub with brilliant yellow flower-heads was the first Leucospermum to be mentioned in the country's written history. Kreupelhout, named for its gnarled branches, was used before 1680.

The species is divided into 2 subspecies, the species in this area is subsp. viridum which has green glabrous leaves occasionally fringed.