It is a spreading to sprawling, irregularly-branched shrub, with broadly egg-shaped to trowel-shaped leaves usually with 3 to 7 teeth or lobes, and down-turned clusters of red flowers with a yellow-tipped style.

Flowering mainly occurs from June to October, and the fruit is a glabrous, ridged, oval follicle 12–16 mm (0.47–0.63 in) long.

[7] In 1998, Greg Keighery described two subspecies of G. variifolia in the journal Nuytsia, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census: Cape Range grevillea grows in open shrubland, subsp.

bundera between Cape Cuvier and the Rough Range (inland from Ningaloo), and subsp.

[2][10][12] Grevillea variifolia is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.