Melaleuca irbyana is a large shrub or small tree with thick, spongy, papery bark, growing to a height of 10 m (30 ft).

The fruit are woody capsules, 3.5–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long, shaped like flattened spheres, arranged in loose clusters along the branches.

[2][3][4][5][6] Melaleuca irbyana was first formally described in 1912 by Richard Thomas Baker in Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.

Only two populations are recorded in conservation areas, in Warragai Creek Nature Reserve and Bungawalbin National Park.

[5][9] It grow in pure stands and in open eucalypt forest in clay, sandstone or alluvial soils.

[4][5] Melaleuca irbyana often occurs in association with eucalypt trees including E. crebra, E. melanophloia, E. moluccana or E. tereticornis.