It is a single-stemmed shrub or small tree with pinnatisect or pinnatipartite leaves, the lobes linear to strap-like, and cylindrical clusters of white to cream-coloured or pale yellowish-green flowers.

Flowering mainly occurs from June to October, and the fruit is an elliptic to lens-shaped follicle 14–29 mm (0.55–1.14 in) long.

[2][4][5] Grevillea parallela was first formally described in 1809 by Joseph Knight in On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae, from specimens collected by Sir Joseph Banks near the Endeavour River.

[6][7] The specific epithet (parallela) means "parallel" and refers to the leaf veins.

[2] It grows in a variety of soils types derived from laterite, sandstone or granite.