Podalyria calyptrata is often only an erect, branching shrub as seen here. Its common name of water blossom-pea suggests its habitat: marshy places and stream banks in mountainous fynbos at elevations below 1000 m.

This shrub, displaying a reasonable crop of ripening fruit pods, was seen near a river in the Kogelberg at the beginning of November, when flowering of the species would normally have been going on for some months (Coates Palgrave, 2002).