Babiana hirsuta is a species of geophyte of 40–70 cm (16–28 in) high that is assigned to the family Iridaceae. It has many scarlet mirror-symmetrical flowers in a branched inflorescence with several short ascending branches. The flower has a narrow tube, and three large, blackish or dark purple anthers that extend beyond the dorsal tepal. The leaves are velvety hairy, lance-shaped, laterally compressed and set in a fan. It is an endemic species of South Africa that can be found along the west coast of the Northern and Western Cape provinces as far south as Saldanha. It is called red babiana in English, but that name is also applied to Babiana villosa, and strandlelie, sandlelie and rooihanekam in Afrikaans. Until 2008, the strandlelie was known as Babiana thunbergii.