Shrub or small tree (1·5) 2·5–6 m. high, with bark smooth, greyish (?) and flaking to reveal beetroot-red patches; branches slender, ascending, reddish-purple to dark brown, not peeling. Leaves petiolate; lamina (5)6·8–14·6 × (1·8)2·2–5 cm., oblong or elliptic, acute or very shortly and broadly acuminate to obtuse at the apex, with margin densely but shallowly crenate-serrate, rounded to cuneate at the base, chartaceous, with numerous (c. 20–40) lateral nerves and densely reticulate tertiary venation prominent on both sides; petiole 2–3 mm. long, slender. Flowers (10)15–50(85), in a compound terminal erect raceme (2) 4–8·5 cm. long; pedicels (1·2)1·5–2(2·6) cm. long in fruit, articulated in the lower third. Sepals (4)5–6(7) mm. long in flower, elliptic-oblong, rounded, becoming red, 8–10 mm. long, ± convex and spreading in fruit. Petals bright yellow, 9–12 × 5–6(7) mm., obovate. Stamens with anthers 1·5–2 mm. long, 2/3 as long to as long as the filaments, straight, dehiscing by apical pores. Carpels 5(6), with styles free and recurved at the apex; stigmas small. Drupelets (10)11–13 × 7–9 mm., reniform or flattened-cylindric, inserted eccentrically; embryo almost straight.
