It has smooth white bark, usually with rough, fibrous or flaky bark on the lower stems, linear to narrow lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in group of between seven and eleven and cup-shaped, cylindrical or barrel-shaped fruit.

[7][8][9][10][11][12] Eucalyptus gracilis was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1855 in Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science, from specimens collected "in the desert on the Murray River".

[9] It is found throughout most of southern and central South Australia where it grows in mallee shrubland in a range of soils, often over limestone.

In Victoria it is confined to the north-west of the state, mostly in the Big Desert and Sunset Country, east to Manangatang.

[6][8][10][12] E. gracilis is often cultivated in open areas, wider verges, in parks and reserves and as a shelter wind-break or for erosion control.