It has trifoliate leaves and small pink flowers borne in panicles in leaf axils.

Flowering occurs from March to June and the fruit consists of up to four follicles 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long.

[3][4][5] This species was first formally described in 1865 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Euodia bonwickii and published the description in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected by John Dallachy.

[6][7] In 1994, Thomas Gordon Hartley changed the name to Melicope bonwickii in the journal Sandakania.

[7] Melicope bonwickii occurs naturally in Java and the Philippines, and southward to New Guinea and north-eastern Australia.