It is a small shrub with green, smooth, leathery leaves and pale yellow flowers in spring.

Leionema phylicifolium is a compact shrub to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) high, branchlets are more or less needle-shaped with star to upright shaped soft hairs.

The inflorescence is a cluster of mostly 3-4 flowers in a cylindrical arrangement at the end of branches on a small stalk or a peduncle to 4 mm (0.16 in) long in leaf axils.

Mueller named it Phebalium phylicifolium and the description was published in Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science.

[7][8] Alpine phebalium is found growing at higher altitudes in eastern Victoria in scrubland, eucalypt woodland and heath, mostly in wetter locations.