Brachyglottis elaeagnifolia is a rigid, multi-stemmed dense evergreen bush usually about 1.2 m but can grow into a small tree up to 5m tall with a trunk of 30cm. The bark is a light brown and will detach in strips.

The shiny thick leathery leaves are green above, up to 7cm long and 4 cm wide. The undersides of the leaves are covered with a tomentum which is usually an orange-brown colour but it can be sometimes white. Its small white flowers which are covered in white hairs appear during summer in clusters on much-branched inflorescences. The flower heads have orange-brown disc florets only hence the genus name Brachyglottis which describes the short ray florets. Bracts of the flowers which remain on the shrub long after the seed has dispersed by the wind are known as ‘wood flowers’. Brachyglottis elaeagnifolia is widespread in the North Islands Mountains including Mt Egmont/Taranaki and is found far south as the Marlborough Sounds. On Mt Egmont/Taranaki its a subalpine scrub growing between 1100 and 1400 metres above sea level.