It has leathery green leaves and grey-yellow inflorescences (flower spikes) which appear in summer and early autumn.

Banksia saxicola grows as a tall upright tree to 13 m (43 ft) high at Wilsons Promontory, or as a sprawling shrub in the Grampians.

They swell and develop 20 to 60 follicles that are covered in fine fur and open only when burnt in fire.

[1] B. saxicola's placement within Banksia may be summarised as follows: Since 1998, American botanist Austin Mast and co-authors have been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae, which then comprised genera Banksia and Dryandra.

[7] Early in 2007, Mast and Thiele rearranged the genus Banksia by merging Dryandra into it, and published B. subg.

[8] In The Grampians, Banksia saxicola grows on exposed summits and slopes as well as gullies in scrub or woodland on a loamy soil, generally among sandstone boulders, with such species as brown stringybark (Eucalyptus baxteri).

The northernmost populations are on the margins of Mt Difficult Plateau, 9 km southeast of Wartook.

[2] Banksia flower spikes are important sources of nectar for mammals, insects and birds, particularly honeyeaters.

[2] Banksia saxicola adapts readily to cultivation, particularly in cooler climates, and has been grown outside in the United Kingdom, Tasmania and at Lees in the Netherlands.