Exocarpos luteolus, a member of the Santalaceae (sandalwood) family, is a moderately to densely branched shrub 0.5 to 2 m (1.6 to 6.6 ft) tall with knobby branches. The leaves are of two kinds: minute scales and more typical leaves. The latter are elliptical, lance-shaped, or oval, usually 5 to 8 cm (2 to 3.2 in) long and 25 to 36 mm (1 to 1.4 in) wide and lack a leaf stalk. The green flowers have 5 to 6 petals about 1 mm (0.04 in) long. The pale yellow fruit is a drupe (single-seeded fleshy fruit), usually 11 to 19 mm (0.4 to 0.7 in) long, with four distinct indentations at the apex. About 6 to 9 mm (0.2 to 0.4 in) of the drupe is exposed above the fleshy, golden-yellow receptacle.