It can form dense stands on many hilltops, called "sky islands", particularly in the Hamersley Range. Grows in skeletal sandy soils along shallow, ephemeral watercourses or on slopes of hills and in breakaways it will also grow in red sandy loam or coarse, gravelly, skeletal sandy soils over laterite or sandstone. Often a part of spinifex or low, open "Eucalypt" woodland communities.