It is a stunted tree or shrub with narrow leaves and cylindrical spikes of golden-coloured flowers and it occurs in a geographic range of just 15 square kilometres near Jurien.

Banksia tricuspis is a shrub or small tree, often with an irregular shape, which grows to a height of 4 m (10 ft) with thick, grey, wrinkled, fire-resistant bark on its trunk.

[2] Banksia tricuspis was first formally described by Carl Meissner in 1855 from specimens collected by James Drummond and the description was published in Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany.

There is evidence that black cockatoos (genus Calyptorhynchus) increase the rate of seed set by selectively destroying borers.

[9] Banksia tricuspis is classified as "Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife,[7] meaning that it is rare or near threatened.