It is an erect shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped or more or less circular leaves and more or less spherical, downturned clusters of red flowers.

Flowering mainly occurs from July to October, and the fruit is an elliptic to narrowly oval follicle 12–20 mm (0.47–0.79 in) long.

[7] This species was first formally described in 1809 by Joseph Knight who gave it the name Lysanthe speciosa in On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae.

[5][7] Red spider flower grows on ridgetops and hillsides in moist heath, low woodland and forest in sandy soil from Gosford, Kulnura and Bucketty to just south of Port Jackson on the central coast of New South Wales.

It does best in a full-sun or part-shade position in either acidic or neutral sandy loam or clay soil that is well-drained but not too dry.