Shrubs or treelets 3-8 m tall; stems and older branches usually thick, bark softly woody, 2-5 mm thick, divided into many longitudinal narrow angles; branchlets gray-white, glabrous. Stipules small, ca. 1 mm; petiole 5-10 mm; leaf blade oblong to broadly ovate, 4-8 × 2-5 cm, leathery, glabrous on both surfaces, base broadly cuneate to rotund, margin entire, apex acute to obtuse; lateral veins 5-8. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, to 1 cm. Male flowers: calyx cupular, with 5 short teeth; petals 5, longer than calyx; disk glands 5; stamens 10, in 2 series inserted on elevated receptacle, inner 5 longer. Female flowers: sepals oblong, accrescent; petals elliptic, ca. 3 mm, slightly shorter than sepals; disk annular, margins obtusely toothed; ovary subglobose, glabrous; styles 3, bifid at and above middle. Capsules subglobose, ca. 1 cm in diam., glabrous; endocarp woody. Seeds ellipsoidal, ca. 8 mm, brown, with speck-stripes, smooth. Fl. May-Dec, fr. Aug-Feb.
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