Dubautia hanaulaensis is an upright (erect) shrub that grows between 0.2–1(–1.5) meters tall. The stems are brown to black, usually glabrous, sometimes irregularly hispidulous or minutely glandular, with leaf scars moderately or sparsely ciliate on distal borders to glabrate. The flowering stems are hirsutulous and sessile to stipitate-glandular. The leaves are simple and opposite, sessile, 15–60 × 3–10 mm, linear to narrowly oblanceolate or elliptic-oblanceolate, with bases clasping half of the stem. The serrate margins have 1- to 4-toothed on each side distally, with short teeth, and the bracts of capitulescence are entire. The leaf’s apices are acute or mucronulate. The faces are usually minutely glandular near the base adaxially; otherwise, glabrous or inconspicuously and sparsely glandular, rarely glabrous. The flowers are discoid, with 7 to 45+ heads in dense to open, rounded to pyramidal, glomerular to paniculiform arrays, 2–8.5+ × 2–7 cm. The internodes are up to 12 mm, and the peduncles are densely hirtellous and densely sessile- and stipitate-glandular, 0–8 mm long. The receptacles are flat, setulose, and epaleate, except for pseudophyllaries. The false involucres are cylindric to narrowly funnelform. These pseudophyllaries (receptacular bracts) are green, linear to usually ± oblanceolate, 5–7 mm, connate 2/3–7/8 their lengths proximally, with white-ciliate apices. The abaxial faces are sparse to moderately minutely glandular, with mostly or all sessile glands, sometimes with scattered non-glandular hairs. There are 4 to 6 florets, with exserted, yellow to orange-yellow corollas, 3.5–5 mm, ± equal to or exceeding pappi to 1 mm. The corolla tubes are cylindrical, 0.5–1× longer than the throat, 0.3–0.5 mm in diameter, often flared at the bases, and glabrous. The throats are goblet-shaped to narrowly funnelform or campanulate, 1–1.5 mm in diameter distally, glabrous, with ± triangular, often reflexed lobes, 0.6–1 mm, abaxially setulose or glabrous. The anthers are reddish, often drying brownish. The cypselae are black, straight, ± clavate, 2.5–4 mm, ± terete or 3- to 4-angled, sparsely or moderately hispidulous to glabrate. The pappi consist of 15 to 23 tawny, subequal, plumose, setiform scales 3.5–4 mm, with marginal setae of scales up to 1 mm. The fruit is a simple, dry achene (cypsela) that is approximately 7-9 mm long and 0.4-0.9 mm wide. It is found in mesic shrubland and forest between 850 – 1100 meters.