Corymbia clavigera is a tree that typically grows to a height of 5 to 15 metres (16 to 49 ft) and forms a lignotuber.

[2][3][4][5] The species was first formally described in 1843 by the botanist Johannes Conrad Schauer as Eucalyptus clavigera from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham.

It was reclassified as Corymbia watsoniana in 1995 by Kenneth Hill and Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson in the journal Telopea.

[5][8] Corymbia clavigera is only known with certainty from the type location in coastal areas of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

[4] It is also likely to be growing on nearby off-shore islands and in areas of the Carson River volcanics between Port Warrender and the Mitchell Plateau.