The pungent shrub typically grows to a height of 0.6 to 2 metres (2 to 7 ft)[1] with hairy to glabrous branchlets.

The ascending to erect, rigid and grey-green phyllodes are usually straight and threadlike with a hexagonal cross-section when young.

The firmly papery and glabrous seed pods that form after flowering usually have a linear to narrowly oblong shape with a length up to 4 cm (1.6 in) and a width of 2 to 4 mm (0.079 to 0.157 in).

the pods contain shiny dark brown to black coloured seeds with an oblong-elliptic to ovate shape thar are 2.5 to 3 mm (0.098 to 0.118 in) in length.

[2] The species was first formally described by the botanist Bruce Maslin in 1977 as a part of the work Studies in the genus Acacia (Mimosaceae) - Miscellany as published in the journal Nuytsia.