Upright narrow or spreading shrub to 1 m or more tall, occasionally prostrate or spreading. Leaves dark green, broadly lanceolate to linear. Flower clusters erect or bent back, toothbrush-like, to 2 cm long, 4 cm wide. Flowers crimson in axillary clusters; winter to spring. Style red. Fruit hairless. Syn. G. speciosa (Knight) D.J. McGillivray subsp. dimorpha (F. Muell.) D.J. McGillivray.

There are numerous desirable forms.

Vic (Grampians).

Source: Spencer, R.; Molyneux, B.; Mathews, D. (2002). Proteaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.