The globose stem-tip flowerheads of Hermbstaedtia glauca are made up of tiny, barrel-shaped florets mainly covered in beige bracts below the colourful petals.

The plant was at one stage known as Berzelia glauca, linking the plant to that fynbos genus of ericoid shrublets bearing spherical heads.

There are about 15 species in the Hermbstaedtia genus, two of which occur in Namaqualand (Le Roux, et al, 2005; iNaturalist).