Gnidia pinifolia side on view

Seen in profile, the long tubes of Gnidia pinifolia flowers show their faint outer surface hairiness or silkiness, as well as an abrupt, small but noticeable thickening of the corolla tube a short distance behind the flower mouth. This feature reminds of Jamesbrittenia flowers that have a bend in the flower tube at roughly a similar place.

The green bracts or involucral leaves immediately behind the flowers in the cluster differ from the ordinary leaves lower down: They have pinkish, semi-translucent lateral wings, more or less doubling their width and adding colour worthy of flowering. These sharp-tipped involucral leaves in some cases reach up well beyond half the length of the corolla, surrounding the flower cluster in a protective manner (Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005).