Associated understory plants include shrub species such as the false sandalwood (Eremophila mitchellii), yellow-wood (Terminalia oblongata) and conkerberry (Carissa spinarum), and smaller herbaceous plants such as brigalow grass (Paspalidium caespitosum), yakka grass (Sporobolus caroli), blue trumpet (Brunoniella australis) and Dipteracanthus australasicus.
The Northern Brigalow Belt includes the coal producing Bowen Basin with the nearby Drummond Basin and the fertile Peak Downs areas while the southern belt runs into the huge Great Artesian Basin with the sandstone gorges of the Carnarvon Range of the Great Dividing Range separating the two areas.
Here it is found as a dominant tree with brigalow (Acacia harpophylla), black gidyea (A. argyrodendron), bimble box (Eucalyptus populnea), Dawson River blackbutt (E. cambageana), E. pilligaensis and the smaller trees such as wilga (Geijera parviflora) and false sandalwood (Eremophila mitchellii) in open forest over mainly Cenozoic clay plains.
Cabbage Tree Palms are common along the creeks, while the lowlands contain pockets of brigalow and softwood scrubs.
Goonderoo Reserve is a 593–hectare nature reserve in the Brigalow belt of Queensland, Australia.