Cryptocarya triplinervis is a small to medium-sized tree that typically grows to a height of up to 20 m (66 ft), with a dbh of up to 60 cm (24 in), its trunk sometimes buttressed.

[3][4][5] Cryptocarya triplinervis was first formally described in 1810 by botanist Robert Brown in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.

[3] In 1989, Bernard Hyland described two varieties of C. triplinervis in Australian Systematic Botany, and the names, and that of the autonym are accepted by the Australian Plant Census: The variety pubens occurs in warmer and drier rainforest, sometimes along creeks and rivers, from the Atherton Tableland in north Queensland to Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, at altitudes from sea level to 750 m (2,460 ft).

riparia is endemic to Queensland, where it is found between the Iron Range and Cardwell, occurring in gallery forests along creeks and rivers, from sea level to 400 m (1,300 ft).

riparia is food plant for the larval stages of Graphium sarpedon, the blue triangle butterfly.