One of 20 species of the genus Alphitonia in Australia and the Pacific Islands, its specific epithet is derived from the Latin excelsus meaning 'tall'.

[3] The red ash has a spreading shade-producing habit when a larger tree with an overall greyish green appearance.

It bears small greenish white flowers in late autumn and early winter, followed by globular dark fruit around 1.5 cm (0.6 in) in diameter,[4] which contain two seeds.

[3] It grows in eucalypt forests, eucalypt and acacia savannas, gallery forests and rainforests of NSW from Mount Gulaga (previously known as Mount Dromedary) northwards along the coast and inland to the Pilliga scrub, through Queensland and the Northern Territory and into the northeast of Western Australia.

[9] Indigenous Australians used the leaves as a soap due to the plant’s high saponin content.