The rounded flowerheads of Phymaspermum athanasioides grow in flat-topped clusters at stem tips. This photo was taken in the Melville Koppies Nature Reserve in Johannesburg during August. It shows open flowerheads with yellow disc flowers closely clasped by several rows of involucral bracts. There may be tiny ray florets as well. Some tiny green and white bracts still cover the tops of some of the flowerhead buds in various stages of development. Flowering of the species happens in winter.

The oblong narrow leaves are crowded towards stem tips, grey-green in colour. The plant is sparsely branched; a slender shrub with erect branches to 2 m (Van Wyk and Malan, 1997).