It is an erect perennial herb, with spoon-shaped to egg-shaped or narrowly elliptic leaves, and spikes of white flowers sometimes tinged with pink.

Ptilotus beckerianus is an erect perennial herb that typically grows up to 20 cm (7.9 in) high, its stems and leaves glabrous.

[2] This species was first formally described in 1853 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Trichinium beckerianum in the journal Linnaea from specimens collected near Port Lincoln by Johann Friedrich Carl Wilhelmi.

The specific epithet (beckerianus) honours Ludwig Becker who illustrated plants for von Mueller.

[2] Ptilotus beckerianus grows in open shrubland on sand, laterite or ironstone gravel with Eucalyptus diversifolia on the southern Eyre Peninsula and on Kangaroo Island.