It is a tree with paripinnate leaves, the leaflets elliptic to egg-shaped and papery with the narrower end towards the base, white flowers, and orange capsules containing a seed nearly enclosed in a red aril.

The fruit is a yellow, elliptic or oval capsule 13–15 mm (0.51–0.59 in) long, with a single seed in each locule and enclosed in a red aril.

[1][2][3] Harpullia hillii was first described in 1859 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Transaction of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria.

[4][5] The specific epithet (hillii) honours Wlter Hill, who was the first collector of this species in Queensland.

[1] Tulipwood usually occurs in dry rainforest on hillsides between Cairns in Queensland to near Taree in New South Wales.