Tree 5–15(–24) m. tall or shrub 1.5–5 m. tall; stem soon rugose or striate or the bark sometimes corky and transverse fissured, glabrous or densely shortly velvety pubescent on the young shoots. Leaf-blades elliptic, oblong-elliptic or obovate, 3–23 cm. long, 1.5–10 cm. wide, acuminate at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, glabrous or sometimes with a mixture of long multicellular and papilla-like hairs on the venation beneath and sometimes with what look like scattered minute pale scales beneath (actually stomata glistening), surface often rugulose beneath, rather thin to ± coriaceous; nodules absent but sometimes there are lesions and bumps which closely simulate them; domatia usually very marked, hairy; petiole 0.2–3.5 cm. long, glabrous to pubescent; stipules obovate, 0.4–1.7 cm. long, bilobed at the apex, the lobes 1–5 mm. long, glabrous or margins ciliate and basal parts pubescent, deciduous. Flowers sweet-smelling, heterostylous, 5-merous, in much-branched panicles 4–18 cm. long; peduncle 1.5–8 cm. long, glabrous or densely covered with minute papilla-like hairs; secondary branches 0.4–1.4 cm. long, similarly hairy; pedicels 0–3 mm. long, usually glabrous or similarly velvety-papillose; bracts triangular to linear (very reduced leaves), 3–8 mm. long; other bracts and bracteoles small, usually margined with red hairs. Calyx-tube obconic, 1 mm. long, glabrous to densely papillate; limb cupuliform, 1–1.5 mm. long, glabrous to velvety-papillate; lobes bluntly triangular or rounded, 0.5–0.75 mm. long, glabrous to densely velvety-papillate. Corolla white, greenish or yellow, glabrous to densely velvety-papillose or pubescent outside; tube 4–6 mm. long; lobes elliptic-oblong, 2.75–3.5 mm. long, 1.3–1.5 mm. wide, incrassate and in-flexed at the apex, densely grey papillose inside. Stamens with filaments 2–4 mm. long in short-styled flowers, 0.5 mm. long in long-styled flowers. Style 2–3 mm. long in short-styled flowers, 6–7 mm. long in long-styled flowers; stigma-lobes 1–2 mm. long. Drupes red, with 2-pyrenes, sub-globose, 5–6 mm. in diameter, scarcely grooved; pyrenes subglobose, 4 mm. long, 4.5 mm. wide, 2 mm. thick, ventral surface plane, dorsal surface slightly grooved. Seeds dark blackish red, subglobose, about the size of the pyrenes, plane ventrally, with narrow deep dorsal fissures but not noticeably grooved; albumen ruminate.
