It has hairy erect stems which are woody at the base and produces yellow flowers (Seeds of South Australia, 2018) (Victoria Flora, 2018).

The flowers have a yellow centre borne on leafy slender stalks (Cunningham et al. 1992).

He discovered many Australian plants, including the showy burr daisy (Morris, 1974).

It lives within sparse mulga, black blue bush and other shrub communities within the sandplains and dune fields (Cunningham et al. 1992).

The specific name, cymbacantha, comes from the Greek word kymbe meaning boat and akantha meaning thorn and spine which refers to the boat-shaped shape of the seed (Morris, 1974),(Seeds of South Australia.