It is a tree with elliptic or egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, white flowers with 5 stamens and 6 to 8 carpels, and achenes splitting to release feather-like fruits.

Doryphora aromatica is a tree that typically grows to 12–40 m (39–131 ft) high.

[3] The edges of the leaves are sometimes shallowly toothed, and both surfaces have a prominent midvein.

[3] This species was first formally described in 1886 by Frederick Manson Bailey who gave it the name Daphnandra aromatica in A Synopsis of the Queensland Flora from a specimen collected near the Johnstone River br Thomas Lane Bancroft.

[6] Doryphora aromatica is widespread in north-east Queensland where it grows in rainforest along creeks and gullies.