The stems and branches are thickly covered in brownish coloured soft hairs that may be wrinkled, curly or straight.

Flowers appear from August to November followed by egg-shaped seed pods 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) long that are densely covered in rusty coloured soft hairs.

[2][3] Hovea rosmarinifolia was first formally described by Allan Cunningham in 1825 and published in Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales.

An understory shrub growing in scrubland or sheltered gullies on poor free draining sandy soils.

[2][3] Hovea rosmarinifolia is believed to be confined in Victoria to the dry rocky woodlands of Mount Difficult in the Grampians and is classified as "vulnerable" due to its restricted distribution.