A small, rounded, soft shrublet of about 1 m high.

The leaves are alternate, entire, fiddle-shaped, 6–20 × 2–12 mm, with crisped and wavy margins, and eared at the base, clasping the stem The upper surface of the leaves are grey, covered with small soft hairs, the lower surface and the stems are more densely covered with white woolly hairs. The foliage is pleasantly aromatic.

The plant produces long stalks which carry clusters of small, creamy white, strongly honey-scented flowerheads, at the tip. Each little flowerhead is bell-shaped, about 4–5 × 3–5 mm, with yellow, hairy petals in the middle, surrounded by creamy white, dry, papery, concave, round-tipped bracts. It flowers in spring to midsummer (September–February). When the Helichrysum patulum flowerhead reaches the end of its cycle, it produces small, 0.75 mm long, barrel-shaped seeds with a tuft of white hair-like pappus bristles, clearly visible at the tip.

This plant is easily confused with H. pandurifolium, which can be distinguished by its pointed floral bracts and the inner series of bracts are longer than the flowers, whereas in H. patulum the flowers protrude above the inner row of bracts. It can also be confused with smaller leaved forms of H. petiolare, which can be distinguished by its distinct petiole and leaves that are not crinkly.