Muraltia squarrosa leaf tufts alternate or spiral up the stems. Their spacing reveals longer and possibly more hairs on the stem than the blades, where hairiness is uneven in both length and density.
Young leaves are straight with whitish spines at the tips, resembling cat-nails. On older leaves the glossy red tips turn brown and the spines point outwards (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Moriarty, 1997; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist).