It has pinnate leaves with mostly ten to sixteen leaflets, panicles of white flowers and woody fruit studded with rough points.

Flowering occurs from August to December and the fruit is a woody capsule 80–130 mm (3.1–5.1 in) long, studded on the surface with rough points and separating at maturity into five valves to release winged seeds 50–60 mm (2.0–2.4 in) long.

[3][4][5] Flindersia schottiana was first formally described in 1862 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected near the Hastings River in New South Wales.

[6] The specific epithet (schottiana) honours Mueller's friend Heinrich Wilhelm Schott.

[citation needed] Flindersia schottiana is classified as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.