[5][6] The fruit is a velvety, yellow to reddish, bilocular capsule roughly 2 cm (0.79 in) long.

[5][6] This species was first described in 1920 by the botanists Cyril Tenison White and William Douglas Francis, based on material collected by Frederick Manson Bailey from the Bellenden Ker Range.

[3][4][7] Harpullia rhyticarpa is confined to coastal rainforests of northeastern Queensland, from near Cooktown to Cardwell, including the Atherton Tableland where it is common.

[6][8] It grows in well-developed rainforest at altitudes from close to sea level up to around 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

[5] This species is listed by both the Queensland Department of Environment and Science and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as least concern.