It is a low-lying shrub, often forming mats, with hairy, lance-shaped leaves, fragrant, cream-coloured flowers and flattened spherical, green to red drupes.

Flowering occurs from February to July to September, and the fruit is a green to red, smooth, flattened spherical drupe 2–4 mm (0.08–0.16 in) long .

[2][3] This species was first formally described in 1797 by Antonio José Cavanilles who gave it the name Ventenatia procumbens in his Icones et Descriptiones Plantarum from specimens collected at Port Jackson.

[4][5] In 1917, George Claridge Druce transferred the species to Melichrus as M. procumbens in a supplement to The Botanical Exchange Club and Society of the British Isles Report for 1916.

[6][7] Jam tarts grows in heath and forest on sandstone or granite from south-eastern Queensland to the coast and Hornsby Plateau near Sydney.