A shrub or small tree of 20–30 feet, wholly glabrous; the young leafy twigs angular or at first very narrowly winged. Leaves numerous, spreading, often rather crowded, narrowly oval or linear-oval, acute or mucronate, impunctate or with scattered or intramarginal translucent dots, venation often subtranslucent, 1/3–1 in. long, 1–2 (occasionally 3–4) lines broad. Flowers 1 1/2–2 in. across, solitary, terminating the leafy, often very numerous, branchlets. Sepals broadly ovate-elliptical or -rotundate, obtuse or obtusely apiculate, thinly bordered with minute glands and often dark intramarginal dots, 1/3– 1/2 in. Petals much exceeding the sepals, obliquely oblanceolate-oblong or obovate. Stamens very shortly and often indistinctly connate at the base, in 5 phalanges. Ovary glabrous, ovoid. Styles 5, united from one-third to three-quarters from the base, rarely nearly free. Seeds very numerous, linear-elongate, often variously curved.
