Bial is a large eucalypt with smooth cream coloured bark and curved leaves which can grow 12 to 50 metres tall. It flowers from November to March.

The Wurundjeri-woiwurrung have multiple uses for the tree, using the bark for canoes, tarnuks and shields, the leaves which create smoke used for healing and sap used to treat wounds.

They grow best in deep-alluvial soil in full sun, typically in lower lying areas.