It has rough, ribbony bark at the base of its trunk, smooth greyish bark above, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine with ridges along the sides, white to cream-coloured flowers and cylindrical fruit.Eucalyptus ceratocorys is a mallee, rarely a straggly tree, that typically grows to a height of 2 to 10 metres (7 to 33 ft) and forms a lignotuber.

[2][3][4] The horn-capped mallee was first formally described in 1934 by William Blakely who gave it the name Eucalyptus angulosa var.

[5] In 1988, Lawrie Johnson and Ken Hill raised the variety to species status as Eucalyptus ceratocorys.

[2] Eucalyptus ceratocorys grows in sandy soil in shrubland between Koorda and the southern fringe of the Great Victoria Desert in the southern Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia.

[3] This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.