Medium sized shrub to small tree with drooping braches and pale green/grey linear leaves. Often grows in small clusters where the parent tree is surrounded by smaller trees produced by suckering. Flowers are tubular and are pinkish often spotted or mottled with a deep red colour.

There are several subspecies of this shrub. In Melbourne the subspecies is often referred to as Dodonea viscosa ssp. cuneata although it is very similar to D. v. spathulata. The two subspecies are separated on the basis of leaf dimensions which may be variable on different plants in the same population.

This is a highly variable small shrub. features that vary are the degree of uprightness, hairiness and proportions of the leaf, flower colour and tube length. It can approach Correa glabra in appearance but generally be distinguished by the rough hairy foliage. The presence of a pair of reduced 'floral' leaves produced at the top of the flower is a distinctive feature of Correa reflexa which may be seen in the detail photo. These leaves may appear to clasp the top of the flower in some forms.

Can be confused with Convolvulus remotus which has much narrower, almost linear leaflets.

A tall shrub, sometimes dense and rounded but scrawny in poor soil or when grown with competition. The dark green phyllodes (flattened leaf-like stems which replace the true leaves as the main photosynthetic structure) are typically broad and sub-glossy. It is fairly distinctive relative to other indigenous wattles around Melbourne but it is readily mixed up with the naturalised Golden Wreath Wattle, Acacia saligna from Western Australia.