It has smooth grey bark, linear leaves and golden-brown flowers in short, cylindrical heads and inconspicuous follicles.

Banksia pulchella is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and has smooth grey bark but does not form a lignotuber.

[2][3][4][5] Banksia pulchella was first formally described by Robert Brown who published the description in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.

The specific epithet (pulchella) is from the Latin pulchellus meaning "pretty", probably referring to the flowers.

[8]: 391 : 416 Teasel banksia grows in tall shrubland and kwongan and occurs on the south coast of Western Australia from Culham Inlet in the Fitzgerald River National Park and east to Israelite Bay.