It is a spreading shrub with egg-shaped to elliptic, sometimes lobed leaves, and greenish or greyish flowers with a pink to red style.

[5][6] Jervis Bay grevillea is closely related to the gully grevillea (G. barklyana) which differs by its larger habit, generally longer leaves, triangular lobes, narrower, more condensed inflorescence with flowers that have a silky ovary and conical shaped pollen presenters.

It is also related to the laurel-leaf grevillea (G. laurifolia) which differs in its prostrate (ground-covering) habit and silky lower leaf surface.

macleayana in 1986 by Donald McGillivray in his book, New Names in Grevillea (Proteaceae), from specimens collected near Bream Beach by Roger Coveny in 1971.

[10] Grevillea macleayana grows in low woodland or shrubland in near-coastal areas of New South Wales from near Jervis Bay to Moruya, and inland as far as Bundanoon.