Goodenia paradoxa is a perennial herb covered with soft hairs, and has ascending to prostrate flowering stems up to 60 cm (24 in) long.

The leaves are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or elliptic, 70–250 mm (2.8–9.8 in) long, 15–35 mm (0.59–1.38 in) wide with toothed edges and forming a rosette at the base of the plant.

[2][3][4] The species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Velleia paradoxa in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.

[5][6] In 2020, Kelly Anne Shepherd and others transferred it to the genus Goodenia as G. paradoxa, based on nuclear, chloroplast and mitochondrial data.

[4][2] There are also records from a few places in Tasmania, including Hobart, Launceston, the Northern Midlands Southern Midlands and the Derwent Valley, but the species is listed as "vulnerable" under the Tasmanian Government Threatened Species Protection Act 1995.