[8][9] The specific epithet (viminalis) is a Latin word meaning "bearing shoots or ribbons for wicker work.

[23]: 35 Subspecies cygnetensis, commonly known as the rough-barked manna gum, grows in the higher rainfall areas of South Australia, including Kangaroo Island and the southern Mount Lofty Ranges and as far east as the Grampians in Victoria.

[12][11][24] Subspecies hentyensis, commonly known as the western Tasmanian sand gum, grows in sandy soil on the west coast of Tasmania, north from Strahan.

[17][18][26] Subspecies siliceana is known only from the Wail State Forest in the Wimmera region of Victoria, where it grows in deep sand.

A white, nearly opaque manna from the normal E. viminalis was found by Mr. Bauerlen at Monga, near Braidwood (New South Wales).

The manna is derived from the exudation of the sap, which "drying in the hot parched air of the midsummer, leaves the sugary solid remains in a gradually increasing lump, which ultimately falls off, covering the ground in little irregular masses."

William Macleay of Sydney is, however, by no means of that opinion, as he thinks it cannot be doubted that the manna is the work of a gall-making Coccus.