Leucospermum calligerum, commonly the arid pincushion, is an erect or sprawling shrub that grows to 2 m in height.
The leaves are lanceolate, grey and hairy. Leaf apices rarely have as many as three teeth, usually just a single acute-angled tip.
The distribution is in the west of the Western Cape, from Niewoudtville to Riversdale, notably also on the Houw Hoek Mountains to Greyton and slightly into the southwest of the Northern Cape. This plant was found in the Elandsberg Nature Reserve at Bartholomeus Klip.
The habitat is dry, sandy fynbos plains and slopes. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).