The simple leaves are oppositely arranged, oval-shaped in outline with a broad base, pointed tips, and almost entire to crenate or finely toothed margins.

The leaves are also sparsely covered in hairs above, while more densely hairy beneath; and also have five distinct veins that run in an almost parallel fashion from the leaf bases to their tips.

The base of the flower is swollen into a cup-shaped structure which is moderately to sparsely covered with a mixture of bristly and sticky hairs.

Wildfires, landslides, windstorms and other forms of soil disturbance (such as pig rooting) accelerate the dominance of this weed (Smith Undated; Peters 2001).

[8] Manually pulling plants out of the ground supplemented by herbicide application is an effective but temporary control method.

[3] The thrips species Liothrips urichi from Trinidad is being used to biologically control M. crenata and is very effective in pastures but much less so in woodlands;[10] it was first employed on Fiji in 1930 (Simmonds, 1933).

Community-based efforts to control the plant in Julatten are coordinated by the Mitchell River watershed management group.

[12] In New South Wales Australia, there is a hotline number for citizens to call and report to the Department of Primary Industries any noticed occurrences of the plant.