The red oak is a large tree growing to 30 m (98 ft) or more in height, and it may have small rounded buttress roots.

[5][8] The inflorescence is a panicle, produced either terminally, in the leaf axils, or directly from the branches or trunk (the last two cases are known as ramiflory and cauliflory, respectively).

[5][8] This species was first described by the German-born Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, from a specimen collected by John Dallachy in the forested mountains around Rockingham Bay in Queensland.

[11] The genus name Carnarvonia was given by Mueller to honour Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, the Fourth Earl of Carnarvon.

[5] The variety C. a. araliifolia is native to the coastal rainforests of northeastern Queensland, from Cooktown south to Ingham, and from near sea level up to about 1,000 m (3,280 ft).