Found in woodland, it is a trailing or twining vine with leaves with several small 'teeth' on the margins and bright yellow flowers in early spring.

[2][3][4] Hibbertia dentata was first formally described in 1817 in Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturale of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle by the prolific botanist Robert Brown.

[7] George Bentham classified it in the series Hemihibbertiae based on flower anatomy, defining members of the group having glabrous carpels and numerous stamens.

[8] Hibbertia dentata occurs in open forest or on the edge of rainforest along the east coast and hinterlands of New South Wales,[3] extending into southeastern Queensland and eastern Victoria.

Within this habitat it is found on sheltered slopes in areas with good drainage, on clay-, shale- or sandstone-based soils that are high in nutrients.

[2] The flowers are visited by European honeybees, native short-tongue bees of the families Halictidae and Colletidae, and large hoverflies of the genus Melangyna.