It has underground stems, deeply pinnatipartite leaves with twenty to thirty lobes on each side, yellowish-brown flowers in heads of about sixty-five, and egg-shaped follicles.

Banksia pellaeifolia is a shrub with hairy, underground, fire-tolerant stems and that typically grows to 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) in diameter.

[2][3] This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Dryandra blechnifolia and published the description in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London from specimens collected by Archibald Menzies near King George's Sound.

[4] The specific epithet (blechnifolia) was a reference to the fern genus Blechnum with a Latin ending meaning "-leaved".

[5]: 273 Banksia pellaeifolia grows in kwongan and is mostly found in the Stirling Range National Park and towards Ongerup.