Male flowers are arranged in spikes 15–50 mm (0.59–1.97 in) long, in whorls of 4.5 to 6.5 per centimetre (per 0.39 in.

[2][3][4] Hybrids with A. littoralis are common between Broken Bay and Port Hacking.

[2][3] This species was first described in 1802 by Étienne Pierre Ventenat who gave it the name Casuarina distyla in his book, Description des Plantes Nouvelles et peu connues, cultivees dans le Jardin de J.M.

[5][6] It was reclassified in 1982 into the genus Allocasuarina as A. distyla by Lawrie Johnson in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

[9] Scrub she-oak grows in tall heath on sandstone ridges on the coast of New South Wales between Port Stephens and Eden, and inland as far as Wollemi National Park and Cooma.