Shrub or tree (1–5) 3–12 m. high, with bark pale grey-brown, flaking (? always); branches densely lenticellate, purplish- or dark brown (more rarely whitish), usually not exfoliating. Leaves petiolate; lamina 4–13 × 1·5–4·5 cm., oblanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate or rarely elliptic, rounded to shortly and ± obtusely acuminate at the apex, with margin densely curved-serrulate to crenulate, cuneate to attenuate at the base, herbaceous to chartaceous, with numerous widely spreading lateral nerves and densely reticulate tertiary venation prominent above (with main and subsidiary laterals almost equally prominent) but almost smooth below; petiole 2·5–5 (8) mm. long, slender, grooved above. Flowers 2–6 (8), in a condensed raceme with rhachis up to 4 mm. long, or pseudumbellate; pedicels 0·8–3·1 (3·5) cm. long in fruit, articulated at or within 1 mm. of the base. Sepals 4–6 (8) mm. long in flower, elliptic-oblong, rounded, becoming deep pink to scarlet, 6–14 (18) mm. long, often ± convex below, and ± spreading in fruit. Petals white to lemon-yellow, 7–13 x 3–7 mm., obovate, scarcely unguiculate. Stamens with anthers bright orange, 1–1·5 (2) mm. long, about -i as long as the filaments, straight, dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Carpels (5) 6–8, with styles completely united; stigma globose or slightly 5–8-lobed. Drupelets 6–8 × 4–6 mm., subglobose to subreniform, inserted below their centre; embryo somewhat curved.
