Zieria prostrata is a prostrate or low, scrambling shrub with glabrous, ridged branches and which grows to a height of 0.5–1 m (2–3 ft).

Both surfaces of the leaf are the same colour, dotted with oil glands and glabrous, with a stalk 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long.

[2][3][4]Zieria prostrata was first formally described in 1996 by James Andrew Armstrong in Australian Native Plants: propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping.

[6] This zieria grows in low coastal heathland on headlands in a single nature reserve near Coffs Harbour.

It is difficult to count the population size but the National Parks and Wildlife Service estimated about one thousand individuals in 1998.