Its scientific name commemorates French botanist Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour.

Head covered with minute granules posteriorly, with larger ones anteriorly; rostral four-sided, not twice as broad as deep, with median cleft above; nostril pierced between the rostral, three nasals, and generally the first labial; 10 to 12 upper and 8 or 9 lower labials; mental large, triangular or pentagonal; two pairs of chin-shields, the inner the larger and in contact behind the mental.

Upper surface of body covered with small granules, uniform or intermixed with more or less numerous scattered round tubercles.

[4] Grey above, with darker markings, forming undulating cross-bars, rhomboidal spots on the middle of the back, or regular longitudinal bands; a dark band from the eye to the shoulder; lower surfaces white.

[2] The preferred natural habitat of H. leschenaultii is forest, at altitudes from sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).