It is a diffuse, spreading shrub with narrowly egg-shaped to linear, sharply-pointed leaves and clusters of pink to purple flowers.

Mirbelia rubiifolia is a diffuse, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 50 cm (20 in) and has angular stems, sometimes covered with soft hairs pressed against the surface.

[2][3][4][5] Heathy mirbelia was first formally described in 1804 by Henry Cranke Andrews who gave it the name Pultenaea rubiaefolia in The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants, from material that had been taken to England and cultivated by Lee and Kennedy in Hammersmith in 1792.

James Edward Smith changed the name to Mirbelia reticulata in 1805, noting that "[t]he leaves are elegantly reticulated with transverse veins, as if stitched with thread" but the name is illegitimate.

[10] Heathy mirbelia is found in sclerophyll forest and woodlands, as well as in heath on sandy soils on the coast or tablelands, often in areas liable to inundation.