A branched, rounded, evergreen shrub or small tree, 1-3 m tall, usually multi-stemmed. Young branches are quadrate and hairy. Leaves are light green, shiny, opposite, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, up to 150 mm long and 55 mm broad, with a shortly decurrent base, like a revolute wing.

Inflorescence is an elongated terminal spike of up to 7 flowers, with a rachis that is up to 130 mm long. The peduncles are quadrate, covered with short, stiff, adpressed hairs (strigose) and 30–50 mm long. Bracts are broadly ovate, 5 × 2 mm, and fall off before the petals even open (caducous). Flowers are in pairs; they are sessile and densely covered with short hairs (tomentose). Corolla tubes are channeled on the undersides (abaxially) and 2-lipped. The upper lip is broadly ovate, strongly boat-shaped and as long as it is broad. The lower lip is transversely oblong. The ovary is densely covered in fine, soft hairs (velutinous). The flowers are pale yellow to cream-coloured, marked with purple in the throat, and are borne in autumn to winter (May to August).

The fruit is a club-shaped capsule, up to 25 mm long that dehisces explosively, releasing the seeds in winter to early summer (May to November).