It is a shrub with egg-shaped leaves, the narrower end towards the base, and groups of usually 7 white flowers arranged in leaf axils.

Sannantha papillosa is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and has grey, scaly to fibrous bark.

[2][3] This species was first formally described in 1999 by Anthony Bean who gave it the name Babingtonia papillosa in the journal Austrobaileya from specimens he collected near the headwaters of Cockatoo Creek in Mount Elliott National Park in 1997.

[2][4] In 2007, Peter Gordon Wilson transferred the species to the genus Sannantha as S. papillosa in Australian Systematic Botany.

[5] The specific epithet (papillosa) means "covered with short papilli", referring to the raised glands on the young branchlets.