Erect annual herb with fleshy taproot, 20–120 cm high, often occurring en masse. Inflorescences are creamish-green, rarely with a pinkish flush. The flowers of this species are conspicuously sweetly scented at night, to attract night-flying moths.
Occurs throughout arid regions of Western Australia, Northern Territory and in northern South Australia, western Queensland and north-western New South Wales, typically on plains with clayey or loamy soils and often in open mulga shrublands.
Ptilotus xerophilus is listed in the following regions:
Maps
Uluru-Kata Tjuta