Macintyre's boxwood is a large rainforest tree growing up to 30 m (98 ft) in height, with a sparse crown and no buttress roots.

Mueller's description was based on specimens collected by John Dallachy at Rockingham Bay in Queensland, and was published in volume 5 of his work Fragmenta phytographiæ Australiæ.

[6] In 1927 the Czech botanist Karel Domin published a new description in Bibliotheca Botanica, giving the species its current binomial combination.

[3][4] The genus name Xanthophyllum is a combination of the Ancient Greek words xanthós, "yellow", and fýllo, "leaf", a reference to the colour of aging leaves.

[6] Macintyre's boxwood grows in well developed rainforest on various soils (but is more common on those derived from grantite), and is found at altitudes from sea level up to 1,600 m (5,200 ft).