Musky Storksbill can be an annual or biennial weed species. It needs bare soil to get established, so is generally an issue in damaged, disrupted or newly-seeded lawns.

Musky Storksbill establishes as a rosette, with each leaf made up of a series of leaflets that emerge from a central point close to the soil.
In unmowed turf, the leaves can get quite long and large rosettes can form.

During flowering, it produces stems that have small purple/pink flowers that are 10 millimetres to 15mm in diameter; these produce unique seed heads that look similar to a stork, which is where its name comes from. In turf, sharp seed-heads can be a problem for young children as they can easily pierce the skin.

Storksbill (Erodium cicutarium) appears comparable to Musky Storksbill, but is generally found in drier, less fertile sites.