It has glabrous stems, wedge-shaped or narrow egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, cylindrical spikes of pale pink to mauve flowers and later, up to twenty follicles in each spike, surrounded by the remains of the flowers.

There are tapering involucral bracts 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long at the base of the spike.

Flowering occurs from June to July and there are up to twenty elliptic to oblong follicles 20–28 mm (0.79–1.10 in) long, 10–18 mm (0.39–0.71 in) wide in each spike, surrounded by the remains of the old flowers.

[11]: 274 : 312 Banksia oreophila grows in rocky places in low heath or shrubland, mostly on the upper slopes and summits of the Stirling Range and Barrens.

[2][5] This banksia is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.