The dense shrub or tree typically grows to a height of and has hairy, terete and ribbed branchlets. Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The erect, evergreen phyllodes have an elliptic-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic shape and are straight to shallowly incurved. The pungent, grey-green and glabrous phyllodes are in length and have a width of and have many closely parallel, immersed nerves, three of which are usually slightly raised. It blooms from July to October and produces yellow flowers. The simple inflorescences occur in groups of two to four in the axils and have spherical flower-heads with a diameter to containing 54 to 85 densely packed golden coloured flowers. The chartaceous, straight to slightly curved seed pods that form after flowering have a linear shape and are strongly raised over each of the seeds. The glabrous pods have a length up to and a width of and contain glossy brown seeds with an ovate shape and a length of .
