It is an important source of nectar in the honey industry and its hard, strong timber is used in construction.Eucalyptus crebra is a tree that typically grows to a height of 35 m (115 ft) and forms a lignotuber.

It has persistent thick, rough, deeply furrowed, greyish black "ironbark" from the base of its trunk to the small branches.

[3][4][5] Eucalyptus crebra was first formally described in Journal and Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany by Victorian state botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859.

[6][7] The specific epithet is the Latin adjective crebra meaning "thick", "close" or "numerous",[8][9] referring to the species' abundance.

[3] The narrow-leaved ironbark grows in sandy soils in woodland and forest from Picton, southwest of Sydney, north through New South Wales and Queensland to the vicinity of Cairns.