It is a spreading shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and red, pink or orange flowers.

The flowers are arranged in groups of two to six on the ends of short side branches along a rachis 1–10 mm (0.039–0.394 in) long, and are red, pink or orange and hairy.

[5][6] Grevillea arenaria was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London from specimens collected near Port Jackson.

[7][8] The names of two subspecies are accepted by the Australian Plant Census: This grevillea grows in open forest, often in rocky places, near creeks or cliffs in south-eastern New South Wales.

It is widely distributed and its population is presumed stable, or in minor decline.