Kokia cookei is a small deciduous tree in the Malvaceae (mallow; hibiscus) family. The only wild individual of this century was about 3 m (10 ft) in height. The leaves are simple, five- to seven-lobed with an entire margin, 5 to 13 cm (1 to 5.2 in) wide and clustered at branch ends. The large flowers occur singly in leaf axils near branch ends. Flowers are subtended by three sometimes persistent bracts that are 1.5 cm (0.6 in) long. Flowers are showy with twisted and recurved orange-red petals clustered together around a staminal column about 6.5 cm (2.6 in) long. The fruit is a five-lobed, dry, dehiscent (splitting open when ripe) capsule, globose and up to 3 cm (1.2 in) in diameter, producing seeds 10 to 13 mm (0.4 to 0.5 in) long, covered with a short dense pubescence.