Schizoglossum bidens subsp. bidens is usually a shrublet growing from a tuberous underground base. The plants are found in grassland or rocky patches in the central regions of South Africa. A plant commonly has many branched stems, reaching over 20 cm in height.

The flower as depicted here, has at its back an acutely five-pointed olive green calyx, showing tiny spiny protuberances halfway up the sides of some of the sepals. There is also a hint of purple or maroon on the sepal tips. The curiously lined oblong, green corolla lobes with their bi-lobed or wedge-shaped tips, are topped by another five-pointed structure, the white two-tier corona. 

The neat geometry here is more than art: It is botany at its creative best in one of the Apocynaceae family's structural masterpieces.