Tylosema esculentum is a trailing, herbaceous perennial, with a tuberous root and red to grey, pubescent stems that become hairless with age. The bases of the stems tend to become woody and the stems can trail across several metres. Tylosema esculentum has forked, thread-like tendrils, 10–40 mm long, that are possibly used for support when trailing over other vegetation, although this hasn’t formally been documented yet. The stipules are 3–5 mm long and elliptic-oblong to obovate. Petiole length ranges between 15–35 mm. The leaf blade size varies between 30–75 mm in length and 40–100 mm in width and is cordate (heart-shaped) at the base, bilobed for half of its length or more, and the lobes reniform (kidney-shaped).

Fig. 2 Tylosema esculentum has bilobed leaves with heart-shaped bases.

Tylosema esculentum has racemose inflorescences (flowerheads) that are 40–120 mm long with 8–20 flowers, borne on 20–45 mm long stalks. Each flower is subtended by a bract (a specialized leaf-like structure associated with flowers), 3–4 mm in length and linear-lanceolate in shape, and two bracteoles, a little smaller than the bracts, that are placed on the flower stalk. The calyx lobes are 8–12 mm long, oblong-lanceolate, hairy and tapered towards the tips with the upper 2 lobes fused. The corolla consists of 5 yellow petals, 4 large and 1 narrower, 15–25 mm long, obovate, slightly crinkled, and borne on long claws. Filaments of fertile stamens are 10–12 mm long, and those of staminodes (sterile stamens) 3–6 mm long. The ovary is 5–6 mm long and glabrous. The pods are 50–90 mm long and 45–65 mm wide, ovate-oblong, borne on short stalks and reddish in colour, turning brown with age. The seeds are relatively large, 13–20 mm long and 12–18 mm wide, ovoid (egg-shaped) to subspherical, brown to brownish-black, with a hard seed coat able to resist mechanical damage.

Fig. 3. An inflorescence of Tylosema esculentum, and a close-up of a flower.