Several of the Athrixia species carry the Afrikaans common name of boesmanstee (tea of the San people). This is due to the various tea-like beverages, sometimes referred to as daisy tea that was and probably still is made from leaves and twigs of some of the plants, including Athrixia elata.

This plant is a much branched shrublet with slender stems and narrow leaves. The leaves are alternate with pointed tips. Leaf margins are rolled under, almost covering the white woolly lower surface of the leaf. The plant occurs on rocky slopes of the Highveld grassland in North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State (Van Wyk and Gericke, 2000; Van Wyk and Malan, 1997).