This species is characterized by its petiolate, relatively robust and rather narrowly elliptic leaves, cymose multiflowered inflorescences, somewhat small flowers, and medium-sized woody subglobose capsules. Many of the specimens seen dried with a reddish purple color throughout. Simira tinctoria is not reviewed in detail here.

The identities of this name and species have been widely confused. Simira tinctoria differs somewhat in aspect from many species of the genus due to its large leaves and branched inflorescences with numerous small flowers that often produce numerous small subglobose fruits. Eventually only a few fruits develop, but the young infructescences resemble plants of Chimarrhis, and these genera are confused in some herbarium identifications. The name Simira tinctoria is the oldest for any species of this genus, but it was not widely studied until the 1960's while the other species were all treated in Sickingia so this genus name is still sometimes overlooked. And, ironically, one of the species of Sickingia had the same epithet, Sickingia tinctoria (Kunth) K. Schum.; that other name applies to the plants now treated as Simira rubescens, but these two species have been confused in herbarium identifications due to the synonymization of Sickingia with Simira.