Shrub or small tree 2–7 (9) m. high, with bark dark grey, reticulately fissured; branches usually not lenticellate, white or pale yellow-brown at first, with bark exfoliating in thin papery strips. Leaves petiolate, not usually glaucous; lamina 5·5–13·5 (17·5) × (1·3) 1·7–5·5 (6·5) cm., obovate or oblanceolate to oblong or (more rarely) elliptic, rounded to obtuse or obtusely apiculate at the apex, with margin densely curved-serrulate, narrowly cuneate or attenuate and flat or incurved at the base, coriaceous or subcoriaceous, with widely spreading lateral nerves and densely reticulate tertiary venation prominent above (with main laterals slightly more prominent than subsidiaries) and almost smooth below; petiole (3) 5–12 mm. long, stout, flattened above. Flowers 4–10, in a condensed raceme with rhachis up to 8 mm. long, or pseudumbellate, sweetly scented; pedicels (1) 1·5–3·5 (4·2) cm. long in fruit, articulated within 1 mm. of the base. Sepals 4–6 mm. long in flower, obovate-elliptic, rounded, becoming flat, orange-red to deep red, 10–15 mm. long and spreading in fruit. Petals bright yellow, 5·5–10 × 4–5·5 mm., obovate to obovate-oblong, narrowed towards the base but scarcely unguiculate. Stamens with anthers 1–2 mm. long, about 2/3 as long as the filaments, straight, dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Carpels 5, with styles completely united; stigma globose or slightly 5-lobed. Drupelets 7–9 x 6–7 mm., flattened-subglobose, inserted at the base; embryo straight.