It is a tree with linear to narrowly elliptic phyllodes, spikes of golden-yellow flowers and papery to leathery pods.

[9] Acacia acuminata grows in a variety of soils and habitats in the south-west of Western Australia from just north of the Murchison River, south to Borden and east to Balladonia, with outliers near Yalgoo and Paynes Find in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Great Victoria Desert, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Murchison, Nullarbor, Swan Coastal Plain and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

[10] The explorer Henry Lefroy found the species was very common between Narembeen and the Avon River and growing with sandalwood (Santalum acuminatum) in 1863, the conservator of forests, John Ednie Brown, estimated in 1895 that an area of four million acres was dominated by this species growing with Eucalyptus loxophleba (York gum), the valuable sandalwood having already been cleared.

Drummond noticed the species growing outside its range at Guildford, attributing this occurrence to spilled seed that had been transported to the site in food bags.

The first thorough survey of the distribution was documented by Surveyor General Malcolm Fraser in 1882, who recorded a range from Champion Bay to the south at Gordon River; he also notes the consumption of its seed and regrowth by introduced stock animals.

[11] The timber's resistance to termites was exploited for fence-posts when European agriculture was expanded into nearby areas, the durability of these is evident in fencing over 100 years old.

[11] The conservator of state forests, Charles Lane-Poole, noted the longevity of fence posts in the 1920s, and that colonial farmers also regarded the species and an indicator of suitable land for raising wheat and sheep.

The colonial diarist, George Fletcher Moore, noted the fine qualities of the timber and thought it suitable for cabinetry.

The charcoal was used for powering gas producing mechanisms attached to motor vehicles during petrol rationing in the mid-twentieth century.