Nymania capensis grows simple leaves, spirally arranged on dwarf spur-branchlets and linear-lanceolate in shape.

The flowers, pink to scarlet, are sometimes less noticed than the colourful inflated fruit capsules appearing side by side in this picture. The flowers have overlapping petals forming cylindrical corolla tubes with slight bell-shaped bulges. The colourful fruits are inflated and four-angled.

Flowering occurs mainly in spring or early summer, but usually after any rain (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).