Garcinia gerrardii is a large shrub, 4-5 m tall, or a small evergreen tree, 10-13 m tall, with dark green, shiny, leathery, simple leaves arranged in pairs or threes. New growth is an attractive light green. The stems contain a yellow or reddish brown, sticky sap.

The flowers are borne in clusters at the tips of branches in spring-summer (September to January), and are strongly sweet-scented. They are either male or female, and are borne on separate trees. Male flowers are greenish white, rounded, 6-8 mm long and 6-7 mm wide. The stamens are grouped into four bundles, called fascicles, made up of 10-16 filaments which are free or partially united.

Female flowers are also greenish white, and much the same size as the male flowers, and contain what look like stamen bundles, but they are infertile (staminodes) and much smaller than those in the male flowers. The most obvious feature of the female flower is the large, fleshy, 3-4-lobed stigma at the tip of the relatively large ovary. The petals fall quite soon to reveal the shiny light green ovary and the staminodes.

The ovary develops into a large, rounded berry 2-3 mm long that is bright yellow-orange when ripe and contains 1 or 2 large seeds. Fruits are produced in profusion, and are ripe in late summer-winter (February to June). At Kirstenbosch, the Garcinia gerrardii plants in the Dell flower in early summer (November), and the fruits are ripe on the trees during autumn-winter (May-June-July).