The specific epithet alliaceum is from the Latin meaning 'onion-like', referring to the smell of the inner bark.

[3] The tree grows up to 38 metres (120 ft) tall with a trunk diameter of up to 80 centimetres (30 in).

The fruits are greenish-white when unripe, red when ripe, roundish, up to 7.5 cm (3 in) in diameter.

[3] Dysoxylum alliaceum is native to the Andaman Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and throughout Malesia and Papuasia to the Solomon Islands and Queensland.

[2] Its habitat is rain forests from sea-level to 1,800 metres (6,000 ft) elevation.