Usually 3 to 6 metres in height, sometimes reaching 12 m tall and a 45 cm trunk diameter. The long leaves and their
woolly white underside make it easy to identify. Blanket leaf is often crooked and asymmetrical. The trunk is not straight, irregular in cross-section but not buttressed. The main branches form close to the ground. Small branches are covered in a whitish felt. Older branches are covered in stringy and flaky brown bark. The leaves are alternate, entire, wavy edged, white underneath, and dull green above. They are 15 to 24 cm long and 2 to 4 cm wide. The midrib is sunken on the top side, but raised on the lower side. Yellow flowers without ray florets form on
panicles in November to January. The fruit is a ribbed
achene, whitish with bristles on the top, 8 mm long in the shape of a cigar. Fruiting occurs from December to January. Whilst in no way related, the first impression of a healthy stand of blanket tree is strongly reminiscent of the rhododendrons of the Himalayas and China. This is due to similar growth habit, leaf arrangement and shape, and is consistent with a plant which grows in the middle vegetation layers, and which has the role of shading the ground. Following the bushfires in the summer of 2006 in the Howqua Valley,
Victoria, a substantial area of forest has been colonised by
Bedfordia arborescens as an understory in the eucalypt dominated valleys south of
Mount Timbertop. ==Taxonomy==