These dry flower remains of Cotyledon papillaris may still contain the seeds they have produced. When they carry seed during their last functional phase they face up, unlike the pendulous flowers that preceded them.

The tousled appearance at the top of the nearly cylindrical cup of dry petals, still cohering around the ovary, is caused by the now twisted petal lobes and the ten stamens that had earlier been well exserted beyond the flower mouth.

Flowering normally happens between midspring and midsummer; this specimen was photographed near Oudtshoorn in April (Smith and Crouch, 2009; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984).