Nesogenes rotensis is a low-growing herbaceous (non-woody) plant with small, opposite, broadly lanceolate (lance-shaped), coarsely toothed leaves. Flowers are axillary (located on a stem in the area between the stem and the petiole) and tubular in shape, with five white petals and male and female components. Often a flowering branch grows upright, which might aid in pollination or seed dispersal. Plants typically branch near the base at about five to seven nodes, and stature may range from not quite flat-growing (subprostrate) to upward-growing (ascending), scrambling over flattened (appressed) shrubs, with whole plants up to almost 1 m (3 ft) in diameter.