Cyrtandra confertiflora is a shrub that grows between 0.8 and 1.5(–2) meters tall. The stems are unbranched or few-branched near the base, rounded to angular, and either pubescent with multicellular hairs or glabrate. The leaves are simple, opposite, and closely spaced, borne on the upper 3–6 nodes. Leaves of a pair are subequal and symmetrical, with elliptic to elliptic-ovate blades measuring 26–46 cm long and 6.5–16 cm wide. The apex is acute to acuminate, while the base is cuneate. The upper surfaces are glabrate except for the midrib, which is sparsely puberulent, whereas the lower surfaces are glabrate except for the veins, which are sparsely brown pilose. Young leaves are more densely pilose all over and are relatively chartaceous. The margins are coarsely serrate, subentire toward the base, and occasionally only serrulate. The veins are not raised on the lower surface. The petioles measure 3.5–11 cm long and are usually broadly winged, with the base sometimes clasping the stem or perfoliate. Stipules are absent. The flowers occur in dense, subcapitate clusters of often compound cymes arising in the leaf axils and are appressed brown pilose throughout, sometimes sparsely. The peduncles are 2–3 mm long, and the pedicels measure 4–14 mm long. The bracts are elliptic and variable in size, measuring 8–20 mm long. They are partly connate or distinct, with some appearing reduced or aborted. A single large bract is sometimes associated with a cyme, and all bracts are usually deciduous after anthesis. The flowers are bisexual (perfect). The calyx is 2–5(6)-lobed, zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetric), and fusiform in bud, tipped by a 3–7 mm long beak. In anthesis, it is pale green and 14–28 mm long, deciduous after anthesis. The tube measures 10–18 mm long, is appressed brown pilose externally, and glabrous within. The upper three calyx lobes are 6–13 mm long, while the lower two are 6–10 mm long, usually separating by anthesis. The corolla is usually bilabiate, white, and fleshy. The tube is narrowly funnelform, curved near the middle, measuring 14–18 mm long and about 5–7 mm in diameter medially, and glabrous. The upper lip is two-lobed, while the lower lip is three-lobed. The upper lobes are broadly elliptic, measuring 6–7 mm long and 5–7 mm wide. The lower lobes are broadly elliptic to elliptic, measuring 7–12 mm long and 5–9 mm wide, and are imbricate in bud. The five stamens are inserted about halfway up the corolla tube, with the two upper stamens fertile, while the others are staminodial with abortive anthers. The fertile anthers are coherent and positioned in the throat of the corolla tube, dithecal, and open by longitudinal slits or occasionally by apical pores. The ovary is superior, oblong-ovoid, two-carpellate, and one-celled, with parietal placentation and two placentas that are ± intruded, rarely joined in the center to divide the ovary into two cells. The ovules are numerous, anatropous, and glabrous, with a rounded apex or stylar beak. The style measures 5–9 mm long and is glabrous, while the stigma is capitate and two-lobed, with the lobes usually elliptic. The fruit is a fleshy or firm berry, white in color, ellipsoid in shape, measuring 1.6–2.4 cm long, glabrous, and often tipped by the persistent stylar beak. The seeds are numerous, ellipsoid, minute (0.35–0.5 mm long), and have a reticulate surface. It occurs in very wet, shaded sites in gulches and along streams in mesic valleys, occasionally extending into wet forests between 150-490(–850) meters.