It is an erect, bushy shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets which are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base.

Its branches are ridged, rough and partly hairy and its leaves are composed of three egg-shaped leaflets with the narrower end towards the base.

Flowering mainly occurs in spring and summer and is followed by fruit which is a follicle dotted with oil glands and slightly rough.

[2][3] Zieria robusta was first formally described in 1911 by Joseph Maiden and Ernst Betche from a specimen collected on Mount Werong in the Blue Mountains National Park.

[1][4] The specific epithet (robusta) is a Latin word meaning "hard or strong like oak".