An attractive small shrub with unusual stem clasping, sharply serrated foliage and a profusion of sweetly scented variable coloured flowers from late winter to spring.

Hakea amplexicaulis is an upright, straggly shrub growing to 1 to 3 metres (3 to 10 ft) high with smooth smaller branches and forms a lignotuber.

The stem clasping leaves are sharply toothed with 12–30 2–6 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long teeth on each side, smooth, bluish-green with a powdery film.

The fruit are egg-shaped 3–3.5 cm (1–1 in) long and 12–15 mm (0.5–0.6 in) wide, smooth with a few sharp spines, and taper to a blunt beak.

This species grows in clay, loam and gravelly acidic soils in a well-drained site in sun or partial shade.