The remains of the flammable leaves and the annual regrowth produce banding, allowing the age of the plant to be determined, and giving a record of previous fires in its habitat.

[3] The appearance of the plant was seen as resembling a native inhabitant holding a spear, by the early settlers of the region, leading to the common name blackboy.

[8] It is found throughout coastal plains, near watercourses, and inland forest regions, in a range extending from Geraldton to Albany and in the Avon Wheatbelt.

[1] The species is named as one of the dominant taxa in Corymbia calophylla – Xanthorrhoea preissii woodlands and shrublands of the Swan Coastal Plain, a critically endangered ecological community, once widespread and now restricted to a narrow range.

[9] The species had a high economic importance to the Noongar people, who named it balga,[10] utilising the gum it contains, the spike for fish spears, and the bardi grub as a source of food.