It is an erect to open shrub with variably shaped leaves and compound umbels of up to 20 pale green to creamy-white flowers Xanthosia pilosa ia an erect to open shrub that typically grows to a height of 30–65 cm (12–26 in), its stems sometimes covered with fine, soft hairs.

Flowering mainly occurs from September to March and the fruit is 2.0–2.9 mm (0.079–0.114 in) long with 7 to 9 mericarps.

[2][3] Xanthosia pilosa was first formally described in 1811 by Edward Rudge in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London from specimens collected near Port Jackson.

[4][5] The specific epithet pilosa comes from the Latin, meaning "softly hairy".

[6] Woolly xanthosia grows in heath, woodland and forest in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.