It is a tall shrub with slender branches, its leaves egg-shaped to narrowly lance-shaped and arranged in two opposite rows (distichous), reddish flowers in curved spikes with bell-shaped petal tubes, and deep to pale purple drupes.

Trochocarpa disticha is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 5 m (16 ft), with thin, spreading branches and branchlets with longitudinal grooves.

The leaves are arranged in two opposite rows, egg-shaped to narrowly lance-shaped, 3–8 mm (0.12–0.31 in) long and often reddish, with 3 to 5 veins on the lower surface.

Flowering occurs from September to October and the fruit is a pale to deep purple drupe 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) in diameter.

[2] This species was first formally described in 1805 by Jacques Labillardière who gave it the name Cyathodes disticha in his Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen.