[3][4]) It is a shrub with an open straggly habit, stiff, sharply pointed leaves and bright red bottlebrush flowers tipped with yellow in summer.

Melaleuca rugulosa is a shrub growing to 5 m (20 ft) high with an open, straggling habit and peeling grey bark.

[5][6]Melaleuca rugulosa was first named in 2006 by Lyndley Craven in Novon when Callistemon rugulosus was transferred to the present genus.

[7][8] It was first formally described in 1822 as Metrosideros rugulosa by Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link in Enumeratio Plantarum Horti Regii Berolinensis Altera.

[9][10] The specific epithet (rugulosa) is from the Latin word ruga meaning "crease" or "wrinkle"[11] but the reason for this naming is unclear.