The soft, young stems of Maireana decalvans are a dull cream colour, later to become reddish to dark. Fine, whitish down is sometimes visible upon the stems, or only in or around the leaf axils.

The succulent leaves are alternate, short-stalked to nearly stalkless and cylindrical or narrowly spindle-shaped and round-tipped. The leaf surfaces are smooth and blue-grey to yellow-green. Leaf length is from 5 mm to 8 mm (iNaturalist; http://flora.sa.gov.au).