Shrub or (slender) tree, 4-25(-35) m; bark grey to brownish, with oblong, pustular, transverse lenticels; branchlets glabrous. Leaves obovate-oblong or oblong-elliptic, shortly acuminate, cuneate at the base, glabrous, shining and dark bluish-green above, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, 12-20(-26) by (3-)5-8(-11) cm, entire or slightly crenate, especially towards the apex; lateral nerves arcuate-ascending, 5-8(-10) pairs, little prominent; petiole stout, sulcate, (1-)1.5-2 cm. Racemes axillary or subterminal, interrupted, 5-8 cm. Flowers solitary or 2-3 in fascicles along the rhachis, white, scented like jasmin; pedicels 2-4 mm during anthesis, afterwards accrescent up to 8 mm. Outer perianth segments 5, suborbicular, ciliate, (2-)3 mm. Inner perianth lobes 5, elliptic,as long as but somewhat narrower than the sepals, fimbriate at the apex. Stamens 5; filaments very short, white; anthers sagittate, yellow; connective white. Ovary constricted at the base, yellow, attenuate into a 1 mm long style; stigmas 3, slightly divergent. Fruit with style-rudiment, stalked, subglobose or subangular, with a woody (±2 mm thick), finely verrucose pericarp, glabrous, pale green or whitish when ripe, 1.25-1.75 by c. 1.5 cm, dehiscing from the top into 2-3 valves, red or violet-coloured inside. Seeds (1-)2-3, trigonous, roundish at the margins, dorsally convex, flat on the other 2 sides.
Apparently rather frequent but scattered in N. New Guinea, in primary forest on flat or hilly, never inundated, alluvial land with a clayey or sandy soil, 10-75 m, rarely up to 500 m (in San Cristobal up to 800 m). Fl. fr. Jan.-Dec.
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