Shrub 50–150 cm high, viscid; branches ascending, slender. Leaves variable, linear to lanceolate, mostly 1–4 cm long, 2–4(–7) mm wide, obtuse or truncate, margins more or less recurved, upper surface shiny and glabrous, lower surface white-tomentose except for midvein; petiole 1–2 mm long. Male flowers 1–3 on peduncle 1–6 mm long; bracts triangular, to c. 0.5 mm long, brown; female flowers solitary on short peduncles that elongate in fruit. Male sepals ovate, 1–2 mm long, viscid; female sepals ovate c. 2 mm long, white-pubescent; stigmas forming a 3-lobed cup appressed to ovary, persistent in fruit. Capsule ovoid to globose, 6–8 mm long, on a whitish peduncle 3–5 mm long; seeds usually 3, obloid, c. 5 mm long, reddish-brown. Flowers mostly Sep.–Dec.
LoM, MuM, Wim, GleP, Brid, VVP, MuF, GipP, OtP, WaP, CVU, GGr, DunT, NIS, EGU, HSF, HNF, OtR. (Bass Strait islands). In Victoria mostly in the north-west, in mallee communities, but also along the coast and, rarely, in ranges and gorges.
The leaves are very variable and a number of varieties have been recognized mainly on the basis of leaf size and shape. These distinctions generally do not appear to be taxonomically useful-plants of intermediate leaf morphology abound. However, plants from coastal areas of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania have uniformly broad leaves (mostly 3–7 mm wide) and hence may be worthy of taxonomic recognition. These plants have been referred to B. lechenaultii var. latifolia Grüning.
