Arctotis fastuosa plants are generally white-woolly on stems, flower stalks, leaves and particularly the buds as in the photo. The buds are hairy balls, only the narrow, pointed tails of the outer involucral bracts protrude from the silvery mass.

The stem-leaves are smaller than the basal ones but similarly lobed. On this plant the leaf lobes ascend, elliptic with tips pointed, sometimes blunt.

A. fastuosa stems may become long, the plants sometimes reaching heights around 60 cm (Manning, 2009; Eliovson, 1990; iNaturalist).