The flowers appear on the trunk (cauliflory) or larger branches (ramiflory) over most months of the year except December and January, but peak over July to September.

[1] Victorian colonial botanist Ferdinand von Mueller described the bumpy satinash as Eugenia cormiflora in 1865, from a collection by John Dallachy at Dalrymple's Gap near Rockingham Bay in Queensland.

[3] Eugenia hislopii, named by Frederick Manson Bailey in 1913, is a synonym.

[5] The range is from Townsville to the Iron Range from sea level to altitudes of 1,200 m (3,900 ft), with cauliflorous forms more common at higher elevations and ramiflorous at lower elevations.

[5] The odoriferous black ant (Anonychomyrma gilberti) makes extensive tunnels in the cauliflorous form, particularly at the bumps where flowers grow.