Tall evergreen aromatic tree or shrub, 5.4–30(–45) m. tall, with fairly smooth grey-brown bark, a much-branched crown and sometimes a buttressed bole; young branchlets puberulous at first, but soon glabrous, reddish-brown to blackish, smooth or rugose and mostly with many conspicuous lenticels. Leaf-blades oblong, elliptic, ovate or oblanceolate, (6–)8–16.4 cm. long, 2.8–6.5 cm. wide, obtuse, acute or prominently acuminate at the apex (the acumen attaining 2 cm.), cuneate to rounded and decurrent at the base, coriaceous, drying bluish-green above and greenish-brown to orange beneath, glabrous above, adpressed pubescent or glabrescent (silky pilose when very young) and usually ± glaucous beneath; venation laxly to densely reticulate, usually prominent on both surfaces but sometimes obscure above; petiole 3–6 mm. long, blackish, adpressed pubescent or glabrescent. Flowers solitary or in 3–5-flowered fascicles, fragrant; pedicels 0.4–1.1 cm. long, adpressed ferruginous pubescent; bracteoles 2–3, cucullate, 1–4 mm. long, 2–2.5 mm. wide, adpressed pubescent outside, glabrous inside. Sepals ovate-triangular, 3–5 mm. long and wide, rounded to acute or apiculate, glabrescent to pubescent outside, glabrous inside. Petals cream, greenish-white or yellow; outer linear, 2.5–5.5 cm. long, 2–3.5 mm. wide above, 5–6 mm. wide at the base, concave at the base, silky pubescent outside, tomentellous inside save at the base; inner rather shorter and narrower, 2.7–4.5 cm. long, 1.5–2 mm. wide, tomentellous save at the base. Stamens linear, 1–1.5 mm. long; connective-prolongation obliquely capitate, papillose or pubescent. Carpels 24–32(–42); ovary cylindric, 1–1.5 mm. long, sparsely adpressed pilose, 6–8-ovuled; styles linear-tapering, aggregated to form a very narrow cone ± 3–4.5 mm. long. Fruiting pedicels 0.7–1.2(–2.2) cm. long; monocarps (5–) 16–24(–42), green to reddish, cylindrical, 1.5–6 cm. long, 5–7 mm. wide, straight, obtuse, 1–8-seeded, not or scarcely constricted between the seeds, glabrous, ± smooth but usually diagonally ridged, subsessile. Seeds orange-red to black, cylindrical, vertical, 5–7 mm. long, 2–4 mm. wide and thick; aril papery, yellow, 2–3 mm. long. Fig. 19, p. 78.
