It is a compact, rigid, perennial shrub with many branches, linear leaves, and spikes of pink flowers.

Ptilotus beardii is a compact, rigid, perennial shrub or subshrub that typically grows up to 15–50 cm (5.9–19.7 in) high and has many branches.

There are two fertile stamens and three staminode, the ovary is glabrous and the style is 9.9–11.1 mm (0.39–0.44 in) long.

[2][3] Ptilotus beardii was first formally described in 1989 by Gerhard Benl in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected by John Stanley Beard in 1973.

[3] This species of Ptilotus grows in clay soils on saline flats and low breakaways in the Murchison and Yalgoo bioregions of Western Australia.