Diplolaena microcephala is a rounded shrub with elliptic leaves, distinctive stamens, variable flower colour and is endemic to Western Australia.

The leaf upper surface is sparsely covered with large rusty coloured star-shaped hairs, the underside moderately covered with stiff, large rusty coloured star shaped hairs.

The outer bracts are egg-shaped to triangular, 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) long, covered with short, soft, rusty coloured hairs.

[3][4][5] Diplolaena microcephala was first formally described in 1845 by Friedrich Gottlieb Bartling and the description was published in Plantae Preissianae.

It grows in sand, gravelly soils and rocky loam near river banks and on granite hills.