The stems of Duvalia caespitosa are green here, hiding from the sun under a dense shrub of the Little Karoo. The stems may also be purple. The plant was seen in August at the end of the rainy season near Oudtshoorn.

The flowers of D. caespitosa grow solitary or in pairs from the lower parts of young stems. They have a starfish shape of five narrow corolla lobes that spread horizontally around the raised annulus; all dark chocolate or deep purple in colour. In the flower centre the corona is yellow on an orange base. Flowering occurs from autumn to spring (White and Sloane, 1937; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).