The flower is spherical, brown on the outside and bright salmon to orange on the inner surface. The buds of these bisexual flowers develop underground, and eventually emerge to reach a height of about 100 to 150 mm. The plant body is only visible when the developing flowers push through the ground. These fleshy, angular, warty stems bear a series of vermiform (shaped like a worm) outgrowths commonly referred to as roots, ± 10 mm long, which connect to the roots of the host. A network of thick rhizophores or subterranean stems and roots traverse the soil around the host plant. As it ages, the plant turns dark grey to black. The plant body is completely leafless, is devoid of chlorophyll, and is brown-grey in colour. It looks astonishingly similar to fungi, and is only distinguishable from fungi when the flower has opened.
It has such an unusual physical appearance that one would never say it is a plant.
Hydnora africana is a parasitic plant on species of the genus Euphorbia.
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