Common names include smooth-bark rose apple or red lilly pilly.

Syzygium hodgkinsoniae is a small tree reaching 11 metres in height, and a trunk diameter of 15 centimetres.

The leaves are unusual for a New South Wales myrtle, being large, thick and heavy.

It is advised to remove the flesh from the seed, and soak for a day or two, to drown insect larvae.

This rheophyte species grows in riverine subtropical or gallery rainforest on deep rich alluvial and basalt soils at altitudes of up to 300 m above sea level.