The bushy shrub or small typically grows to a height of 1.5 to 4 metres (5 to 13 ft)[3] and has glabrous and terete branchlets.

The grey to green, inclined to ascending and straight or slightly incurved, rigid phyllodes are 3 to 9 cm (1.2 to 3.5 in) in length and 0.8 to 1.5 mm (0.031 to 0.059 in) wide and are quite brittle and tend to break easily.

[2] It blooms between July and October producing simple inflorescences which occur in group of one to three in the axils and have spherical flower-heads with a diameter of 3 to 7.5 mm (0.12 to 0.30 in) and contain 20 to 30 bright yellow coloured flowers.

[4] The species was first described by Joseph Maiden in 1920 as Acacia havilandi,[5][6] despite the specific epithet honouring both Edwin Haviland and his son,[4] who " specialised in the fertilisation of Australian plants and (have) also worked at taxonomy and other branches of botany"[5][6] The epithet was changed to a genitive plural (havilandiorum) to accord with ICN Art.

[2] In New South Wales the plant is mostly found in the Pilliga Scrub between Gilgandra and Milgee as a part of mallee and box woodland communities.