It is an upright to ascending herb with variably shaped leaves and yellow flowers and grows in eastern Australia.

Leptorhynchos squamatus is an upright or ascending herb 10–40 cm (3.9–15.7 in) high, stems mostly simple, woolly to smooth and aging to reddish brown.

[2] This species was described in 1806 by Jacques Labillardière who gave it the name Chrysocoma squamata and the description was published in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen.

[3] In 1832 Christian Friedrich Lessing changed the name to Leptorhynchos squamatus and the description was published in Synopsis Generum Compositarum.

[6] Scaly buttons grows in a variety of situations including forest, mallee, bushland on clay and sandy soils in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.