It has smooth white bark, sometimes with a short stocking of rough bark near the base, a crown of sessile juvenile, heart-shaped or egg-shaped leaves, flower buds in groups of seven, creamy white flowers and cup-shaped, barrel-shaped or cylindrical fruit.

[2][3][4][5] Rough-leaved ghost gum was first formally described in 1859 by Ferdinand von Mueller in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany and given the name Eucalyptus apsera.

[8][4] The specific epithet (aspera) is from the Latin word asper meaning "rough to the touch".

[9] When burnt, the ashes are often mixed with chewing tobacco,[9] and sugarbag bees (a sweet delicacy) can often be found in the tree.

[9] Corymbia aspera grows in low, open woodland on hills, ridges and plateaus as well as on floodplains in red sand, alluvium and skeletal soils.