Pteronia staehelinoides bud

The leaves of Pteronia staehelinoides are smooth, fringed with rigid hairs along the margins. The leaves are elliptic to obovate in shape, the margins entire and turned up laterally. The leaf sometimes curves downwards towards its tip. Leaf positioning is opposite upon the stems. Bare stems lower down may have thickening at nodes where leaves had dropped off.

The unopened flowerhead bud in picture shows the width of the bracts. Colour patterns on these bracts vary: some have wider dark brown sections, others hardly any (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot).