Reaching 30 m (100 ft) in height, the species has distinctive smooth bark that is pinkish or orange-brown when new and fades to grey with age.

[6] Sydney red gum was first formally described in 1788 by German botanist Joseph Gaertner and given the name Metrosideros costata in his book De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum,[7] from material collected by surveyor David Burton around Port Jackson.

[9] English botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury named it Metrisoderos apocynifolia in his 1796 work Prodromus stirpium in horto ad Chapel Allerton vigentium.

[12] English botanist James Britten changed the name to Angophora costata in the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign in 1916.

[21] Angophora costata grows in sandy soil, often over sandstone and occurs naturally in Queensland and New South Wales.

[3][4][5] It is found from sea level to an altitude of 300 m (1,000 ft) in areas of predominantly summer rainfall receiving 600 to 1,200 mm (25 to 45 in) a year.

[5][22] It grows in open forest and woodland, in association with such species as Sydney peppermint (Eucalyptus piperita), bangalay (E. botryoides),[23] grey gum (E. punctata), blue-leaved stringybark (E. agglomerata), white mahogany (E. acmenoides), broad-leaved white mahogany (E. umbra), large-fruited red mahogany (E. scias), red bloodwood (Corymbia gummifera), yellow bloodwood (C. eximia), pink bloodwood (C. intermedia) lemon-scented gum (C. citriodora),[6] turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera), forest oak (Allocasuarina torulosa),[23] and cypress pines (Callitris species),[6] and in hind dune communities with wedding bush (Monotoca elliptica) and burrawang (Macrozamia communis).

The flattened bug Stenocotis depressa evades detection by camouflage, and cockroaches and huntsman spiders live under the loose bark at the base of the trunk.

[24] Angophora costata is also susceptible to the fungal pathogens Quambalaria pitotheka, Aulographina eucalypti and Cryptococcus neoformans.

[25] Smooth-barked apple grows well in a variety of situations and can be easily grown from seed in a loose, well-drained seed-raising mixture.

[27] Angophora Reserve in the Sydney suburb of Avalon was named after a huge individual, reportedly around 300 years of age.