It has smooth branchlets, small egg-shaped to heart-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and small umbels of pale yellow flowers with silvery scales on the back of the petals.

The flowers are pale yellow and arranged in sessile umbels on the ends of branchlets and short side branches, each flower on a pedicel 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long.

The sepals are joined to form a hemispherical calyx about 0.5–1 mm (0.020–0.039 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) wide, covered with silvery or rust-coloured scales on the outside.

Flowering occurs from late winter to early spring.

[2][3][4] Phebalium obcordatum was first formally described in 1863 by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis from specimens collected by Allan Cunningham.