It is widespread as an understory species in medium rainfall eucalypt forests across Victoria, occurring in association with manna gum ("Eucalyptus viminalis"), narrow-leaf peppermint ("E. radiata"), messmate ("E. obliqua"), swamp gum ("E. ovata") and brown stringybark ("E. baxteri"). It is a common shrub, sometimes small tree, in heathy and shrubby forests as well as coastal scrub and heath in part of its range. In South Gippsland, it is generally a shrub which regenerates from a lignotuber or suckers after bushfire and sets few seed. It has been recorded as a low spreading shrub in Croajingolong National Park in East Gippsland. In the Wombat State Forest west of Melbourne, it grows as a high shrub on less fertile soils, and as a large tree to on more fertile soils. Few trees remain, having been cleared for agriculture or for fuel. Similarly, further west in the Corangamite region, it is either a tree or suckering shrub.