It is an erect, rigid shrub with spiny branches, heart-shaped to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow and purplish-brown flowers.

Bossiaea obcordata is an erect, rigid shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and has flattened branchlets that become spiny with age.

Flowering occurs from September to October and the fruit is a narrow oblong pod 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) long.

[2][3][4][5] Spiny bossiaea was first formally described in 1804 by Étienne Pierre Ventenat who gave it the name Platylobium obcordatum in his book, Le Jardin de la Malmaison.

[6][7] In 1917, George Claridge Druce changed the name to Bossia obcordata and the new name is accepted by the Australian Plant Census.