Tree to 20-30 m; branchlets usually tetragonous, glabrous, or young parts sometimes unevenly sordid buff tomentulose, or with scaly incrustation. Leaves narrowly to broadly ovate; sometimes rounded cuneate, infrequently elliptic (0.7-)2.5-6(-10) by (0.5—)1—3(—4) cm, base ± narrowly cuneate, apex broadly, or less often narrowly, obtuse, frequently retuse, margin faintly undulate, or obscurely or obtusely crenulate, rarely markedly crenulate or entire, ± markedly recurved, almost revolute towards the petiole, coriaceous or rarely thinly coriaceous, prin-cipal nerves conspicuous below, anastomosing towards the margin, glandular pits sparse to frequent; petioles up to 9 mm, or sometimes longer, deeply channelled above, glabrous. Inflorescences axillary, up to 3 cm long, or rarely longer, glabrous or tomen-tose distally, bearing few (rarely more than 5 but up to 11) flowers in a dichasium or a pleiochasium; bracts lanceolate deltate to ovate or oblong, (1.5—) 2-3(-4) mm long, caducous; pedicels slightly or ± conspicuously expanded under the hypanthium; bracteoles enclosing the hypanthium in bud. Flowers with perianth pale cream or yellow-green, rarely whitish or reddish; hypanthium 1—2(—2.5) mm long, glabrescent or sparsely tomentulose; tepals 8 in 2 ± equal whorls, broadly obtuse oblong-linguiform to elliptic, (1.5-)3-4.5(-5) by (1.5-)2-2.7(-3) mm. Androecium in several series, the 2 outer whorls each with 4 stamens, outer stamens broader than long (l-)1.3-2 by (1.25-)1.5-2.5(-3) mm, with widely divergent, wing-like ovate to lanceolate-deltate, ± acute staminal glands, and latrorsely dehiscing valves, inner stamens as broad as long, with shorter ± obtuse glands and longer apiculate apices; staminodes narrowly to broadly lanceolate or deltoid to subulate, the outer often with vestigial glands. Gynoecium of up to 15 carpels; styles ex-serted beyond the hypanthium as a slender column, stigmatic column narrowly conical, protruding be-yond apices of staminodes to near apices of outer stamens. Fruiting hypanthium thickly lignified, de-hiscing into 4 (rarely 2) equal valves, sparsely hairy within. Nutlets (3-)5-6 mm long, styles (5—)7—10 (-14) mm long, exserted beyond the hypanthium.
Primary, or rarely old secondary, montane rain-forest, between 2000 and 2800 m in the north-western and central parts of its range, and between (1350—)1600-2400 m in the Eastern Highlands, Saruwaged and Owen Stanley Ranges. In fairly well-drained sites, usually on slopes and towards the crowns of mountains and ridges. Generally associat-ed with forest dominated by Nothofagus. Towards the upper limit of its altitudinal range it extends into conifer forests dominated by species of Libocedrus, Phyllocladus and Podocarpus.
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