The sandpaper raisin or Grewia flavescens is a shrub or small tree (SA Tree List No. 459.2). It sometimes scrambles into surrounding shrubbery and trees.

The four-angled stems are characteristic, older stems becoming fluted and deeply grooved. The bark is dark grey-brown.

This species is similar to Grewia retinervis, although the marked angularity of the stems is absent in the latter and the fruits are unlobed (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997).