Kokia drynarioides is a tree that can reach heights up to 8 meters. The leaves are simple and alternate, with blades orbicular in outline and (5)7-lobed or 9-lobed, measuring 8–20 cm wide. The lobes have shallow, angulate, or deltate divisions, and the base of the leaves is cordate, typically with a closed sinus. The surfaces are mostly glabrate, though the lower surface can be pubescent near the base and at the apex of the petioles, which sometimes bear nectaries on major veins. The margins are entire or nearly so. The petioles are usually as long as or longer than the blades and are deciduous, leaving prominent scars. Stipules are caducous. The flowers are solitary and clustered near the branches’ ends, axillary with 5–10 cm long pedicels, and articulate near the middle, sometimes retaining a persistent bract. Typically, three involucral bracts may be distinct or connate at the base, broadly ovate to suborbicular, usually sinuately 3–5 lobed, and become leathery and accrescent in fruit. The flowers are bisexual (perfect). The calyx comprises connate sepals forming a cylindrical structure irregularly 2–5 lobed, about 2.2–3 cm long. The corolla is zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetric), composed of 5 scarlet petals, 9–11 cm long, curved in bud, and densely yellowish silky pubescent. The stamens form a monadelphous column up to 11 cm long, exserted, and curved, with antheriferous in the upper 1/3-1/2. The ovary is superior, 5-celled, with one ovule per cell. The fruit is a woody capsule, ovoid, approximately 3 cm long, with an acuminate apex and loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds are obovoid, 20 mm long, about 9-12 mm wide, and pubescent with hairs up to 3 mm long. It is found in dry forests on lava fields between 460-900 meters.