This bud of Albuca setosa, in Afrikaans known as the diktamarak or slymuintjie (slime nutgrass), is about to open, facing upwards. It grows from a large bulb with a thick tunic of layered fibres. The plant produces only a few narrowly linear, channelled leaves that are short and hairless, broad at the base.
The flower raceme is only about 15 cm to 20 cm long and flat-topped. The flower perianth is about 1,5 cm in length. Flowering happens from spring to midsummer.
The plant was found in the Mkhomazi Wilderness Area in KwaZulu-Natal in January. The distribution of the plant lies across South Africa, barring the far south-western Cape; it also occurs in several neighbouring countries. The habitat is diverse grassland and scrub (JSTOR; iSpot).