This is a long lived Australian Native tree with a variable habit, often multitrunked and grows up to 25m tall in its native habitat but usually much smaller in cultivation.  The trunk has thick spongy bark in long fissured or stringy flaky strips that extend to the smaller branches, thick and stiff dull green foliage with pale white undersides and in Spring creamy white flowers grow in clusters at the ends of branches.  The flowers produce an abundance of nectar and attracts nectar feeding fauna - flying foxes, birds, bees and other insects.  The fruit that follows is a woody aggregate and is an interesting shape that persists on the tree for a few years and the seed inside the seedpod is very fine.

Timber is used in marine applications as it resistant to marine borers and also resistant to termites, older trees also provide a habitat for many fauna species using the hollows for shelter and breeding and is a low maintenance tree that grows well in moist fertile soil.