Hakea sericea is a large spreading, bushy shrub and may grow to 4 m (10 ft) and does not form a lignotuber.

The inflorescence appear in umbels of 1–6 flowers in leaf axils, pinkish in bud and maturing to white.

The inflorescence rachis is 0.5–2.5 mm (0.020–0.098 in) long and thickly covered in woolly, short, matted white hairs toward the end and rusty coloured at the base.

[3][4][5][6] Hakea sericea was first formally described by Heinrich Schrader and Johann Christoph Wendland in 1797 and published the description in Sertum Hannoveranum.

[8] H. sericea is an invasive weed in some areas outside Australia, specifically in South Africa, New Zealand and Portugal.