Shrubs are perennial, up to 2.5 m high, well-branched, with the lower parts bare and upper parts of branches densely leafy. Leaves are 15-150 mm long, erect or spreading when young, reflexed when old, needle-like and sometimes divided in the upper part. Individual flower heads are borne on wiry stalks, 20-150 mm long and are clustered in the upper part of the flowering branches. Heads are 10-12 mm in diameter. The 8-24 ray florets are pale or bright yellow or orange-yellow. Disc florets are yellow, 25-150. Seeds are very small (1-3 mm long), covered in dense, short white or brown hairs and become slimy when wet.

Flowering has been recorded from July to December but is most spectacular in August to October.

Two subspecies are distinguished, namely subsp. trifurcatus and subsp. tenuissimus. In subsp. trifurcatus most leaves are forked in three, whereas in subsp. tenuissimus most leaves are simple.