A tall tree to 25 m, with diameter to 1 m, the yate is indigenous to the coastal belt from Busselton to east of Albany in Western Australia. The average rainfall ranges from 700 - 1400 mm. The closely related Eucalyptus macrocera occurs in the Stirling Ranges in a slightly lower rainfall area.
It usually occurs as scattered trees in open forest. Its companion trees include; jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), marri (Eucalyptus calophylla), tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) , Western Australian flooded gum (Eucalyptus rudis), Mt. Le Grand mallee (Eucalyptus aquilina) and Bald Island marlock (Eucalyptus lehmannii).
The timber is very durable and reported as one of the hardest and strongest timbers in the world. It was formerly used for wheelwright work, but is now of very limited availability. One south west manufacturer of musical instruments reports that stringed instruments made from yate have an excellent sound quality.