Blepharis capensis is a spiny shrub that branches much and grows to heights around 1,5 m. Its leaves cluster on the stems and vary in size. Some have sharp spines on the margins, others are only markedly toothed.

The creamy white flowers grow in short spikes. They have short tubes and one-lipped corollas with three lobes at the tips. Blooming happens in spring and summer.

B. capensis is a South African endemic, common and mostly found in the east of the Western Cape and the west of the Eastern Cape. It also occurs to some extent in the far southeast of the Northern Cape and has a slight presence in the southwest of the Free State.

The habitat is arid and karoid, the plants growing in sandy and clayey soils. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).