E. wandoo was first described in 1934 by the Australian botanist William Faris Blakely in his book A Key to the Eucalypts using material collected by the English collector Augustus Frederick Oldfield from a sand plain along the Kalgan River.

E. wandoo was listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as of 2019[update] as a result of its severely fragmented population.

[7] It forms an inconspicuous lignotuber,[14][1] the woody tuber that begins to develop near the base of seedlings, but can become huge in older trees and contains embedded epicormic buds that allow the plant to regenerate following destruction of the crown following fire or drought.

[14] Young plants and coppice regrowth have blue-green leaves that are arranged oppositely (borne at the same level but on directly opposite sides of their common axis) for two to four nodes where the leaves arise then arranged alternately (found singly at different levels along the stem).

The side veins in the leaves are at an angle greater than 45° to the midrib and there is moderate to dense reticulation; the leaf oil glands are found at the intersections of the veinlets.

The oblong anthers are attached dorsally to the filament and burst open spontaneously via longitudinal slits.

It has a straight and long style and a blunt to rounded stigma leading to the ovary that has three to four cavities containing four vertically arranged rows of ovules.

[9] The pollen and nectar are a valuable source of protein, vitamins, fats and minerals for honey bees.

[9][14] The woody fruits that form after flowering have cylindrical to oblong-obconical shape and are on stalks that are 0.1 to 0.4 cm (0.039 to 0.157 in) in length.

The seeds inside have a sub-spherical to cuboid shape with a smooth straw to mid-brown coloured surface.

[19] Eucalyptus wandoo was first described in 1934 by the Australian botanist William Faris Blakely in his book A Key to the Eucalypts.

[14] The type specimen was collected by the English collector Augustus Frederick Oldfield from a sand plain along the Kalgan River.

[4][25] E. wandoo is a part of the Symphyomyrtus subgenus and belongs to section Bisectae and the Glandulosae subsection, which all have bisected cotyledons, an operculum scar and where oil glands are found in the pith of the branchlets.

Within the Glandulosae subsection wandoo forms a group of 14 species that are a part of series Levispermae and subseries Cubiformes.

[9] It is found along the base of the Darling Scarp[8] and spreads south and east out into the Wheatbelt[8] and as far as the Great Southern.

Some of the causes are thought to be changed fire regimes, climate variability, land clearing, fungal and insect activity and salinity.

[1] The woodlands formed by wandoo are composed of open stands of widely spaced trees over sparse understoreys of shrubs, grasses and herbs.

The range of plants which flower through the year provide a constant source of nectar for birds, including honeyeaters, as well as insects.

The insects then provide a source of food for other birds including the golden whistler, western yellow robin and rufous treecreeper.

[37] Wandoo is vital for native wildlife with various animal species using tree hollows and shed branches as habitat.

The bark and foliage of the tree is home to an abundance of spiders and insects, including native cockroaches, thrips, beetles and flies.

[39] Carnaby's black cockatoos are also known to use the flowers and seeds as a food source and the trees as a roosting site.

[42] Trees are also affected by psyllid bugs or lerp that can attack the foliage causing discolouration then the loss of leaves.

[13] The tree is susceptible to root rot caused by the Armillaria luteobubalina fungus and is known to have a high mortality rate.

[45] The indigenous Noongar peoples used wandoo as a medicinal plant with antibacterial properties and the leaves are steamed or used to make poultices to relieve congestion.

[46] The wood of this species is extremely dense, with a air-dry density of 1,100 kg/m3 (1,900 lb/cu yd) and a green density of 1,100 kg/m3 (1,900 lb/cu yd),[12]: 46  and is used for a range of heavy-duty construction purposes, including as railway sleepers, poles, wood flooring[46][12]: 46  joists, beams, girders and by wheelwrights.

[6] The wood has a yellow to light reddish brown colour, is textured with a wavy to interlocked grain, and is considered extremely durable and resistant to termites.

[12]: 46 [50] Wandoo is also famous for the honey produced by bees from the tree's pollen and nectar[11][51] and is a mainstay for Western Australia's apiculture industry.