It grows in two separate regions of Central and Northern New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range.

Well known for its orange or red autumn inflorescences, which contrast with its green fine-leaved heath-like foliage, it is a medium to large shrub that can reach 6 m (20 ft) high and wide, though is usually half that size.

Banksia ericifolia has been widely grown in Australian gardens on the east coast for many years, and is used to a limited extent in the cut flower industry.

Compact dwarf cultivars such as Banksia 'Little Eric' have become more popular in recent years with the trend toward smaller gardens.

Each individual flower consists of a tubular perianth made up of four fused tepals, and one long wiry style.

The styles' ends are initially trapped inside the upper perianth parts, but break free at anthesis, when the flowers open.

Though not terminal, the flower spikes are fairly prominently displayed emerging from the foliage; they arise from two- to three-year-old nodes.

Oblong in shape and 15–20 mm (9⁄16–13⁄16 in) in diameter, the follicles are ridged on each valve and remain closed until burnt by fire.

[9][10] B. ericifolia was first collected at Botany Bay on 29 April 1770, by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Daniel Solander, naturalists on the Endeavour during Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific Ocean.

The first synonym, Banksia phylicaefolia Salisb, was published by the English botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury in his 1796 Prodromus stirpium in horto ad Chapel Allerton vigentium.

[25] In 2005, Mast, Eric Jones and Shawn Havery published the results of their cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for Banksia.

They inferred a phylogeny markedly different from the accepted taxonomic arrangement, including finding Banksia to be paraphyletic with respect to Dryandra.

The inflorescences are a feature of autumn bushwalking in sandstone areas, such as the Kings Tableland walk in the Blue Mountains, Jennifer Street Boardwalk in Little Bay, and Royal National Park.

[23] Like other banksias, B. ericifolia plays host to a wide variety of pollinators and is a vital source of nectar in autumn, when other flowers are scarce.

A 1998 study in Bundjalung National Park in Northern New South Wales found that B. ericifolia inflorescences are foraged by a variety of small mammals, including marsupials such as yellow-footed antechinus (Antechinus flavipes), and rodents such as pale field rat (Rattus tunneyi) and grassland mosaic-tailed rat (Melomys burtoni).

[32] A 1978 study found bush rat (Rattus fuscipes) to bear large amounts of pollen from B. ericifolia and suggested the hooked styles may play a role in pollination by mammals.

[36] Like most other Proteaceae, B. ericifolia has proteoid roots—roots with dense clusters of short lateral rootlets that form a mat in the soil just below the leaf litter.

[38] For a large part of its distribution Banksia ericifolia grows near areas of human habitation on Australia's eastern coastline.

[37] Banksia ericifolia is listed in Part 1 Group 1 of Schedule 13 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974; this means that as a common and secure species it is exempted from any licensing or tagging requirements under the 2002–2005 management plan to minimise and regulate the use of protected and threatened plants in the cut-flower industry in New South Wales.

That year a painting of the plant by Sydenham Edwards was featured in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, accompanied by text describing the species as "a handsome shrub [that] thrives freely".

It requires extra water over dryer periods until established, which may take up to two years, as it comes from an area with rainfall in predominantly warmer months.

Known as chlorosis, this problem manifests as yellowing of new leaves with preservation of green veins; it can occur on plants grown in soils of high pH.

This can happen especially where soil contains quantities of cement, either as landfill or building foundations, and can be treated with iron chelate or sulfate.

Hard-pruning below green growth is not advisable with this banksia; since it lacks a lignotuber, it does not have dormant buds below the bark that respond to pruning or fire and therefore is unable to sprout from old wood as readily as commonly cultivated lignotuberous species, such as B. spinulosa and B. robur.

[48] Banksia ericifolia is also grown for the cut flower industry in Australia, though not to the degree that the western Australian species such as B. coccinea and B. menziesii are.