It has a sprawling or spreading habit, mostly smooth greyish or brownish bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three, white flowers and conical, cup-shaped or hemispherical fruit.

[2][3][4] Eucalyptus oldfieldii was first formally described by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1860 in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.

[5] The name of the species honours Augustus Frederick Oldfield who collected the type specimen near the Murchison River.

[6][7] Oldfield's mallee is found on sand plains and ridges and on rocky slopes and is widespread north and north-east of Perth to near Shark Bay and Warburton, where it grows in rocky loamy soils over ironstone.

[2][3] This eucalypt is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.