It has thin bark, narrow elliptic leaves, dark red flowers arranged singly on short side shoots and relatively large fruit.

Leptospermum spectabile is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 3 m (9.8 ft) and has thin, firm bark and hairy younger stems.

The floral cup is densely covered with silky hairs and is about 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long, tapering to a very short pedicel or sessile.

Flowering mainly occurs from October to November and the fruit is a capsule 9–12 mm (0.35–0.47 in) in diameter with the remains of the sepals attached.

[2][3] Leptospermum spectabile was first formally described in 1989 by Joy Thompson in the journal Telopea, based on plant material collected in the Colo River gorge to the north-west of Windsor.