)[2] It is usually a shrub, similar to Melaleuca citrina with its hard leaves, spikes of red flowers and clusters of cup-shaped fruits but differs in that its leaves are generally wider and its habitat is usually rocky outcrops rather than along watercourses.Melaleuca comboynensis is a small shrub or tree growing to 0.3–5 m (1–20 ft) tall with hard bark.

There are 31 to 41 stamens in each flower, with their "stalks" (the filaments) red to crimson and "tips" (the anthers) a dark purple.

Flowering occurs from March to December and is followed by fruit that are woody capsules, 4.1–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long.

[5][6] It was first formally described in 1943 as Callistemon comboynensis by Edwin Cheel in Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.

It also occurs in the lower Murray River districts of north-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.