Tree to 30 m tall. Forming a lignotuber. Bark rough on trunk and larger branches, box-type, flaky, grey, branches Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm): stem rounded or square in cross-section, warty or smooth; juvenile leaves always petiolate, opposite for 4 to 6 nodes then alternate, broadly ovate to ovate, 3.8–7 cm long, 1.2–4 cm wide, discolorous, dull, mid-green above. Adult leaves alternate, petiole 1–2 cm long; blade lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, 8–18 cm long, 1–3 cm wide, base tapering to petiole, distinctly discolorous, glossy, green (rarely dull green), side-veins greater than 45° to midrib, very densely reticulate, intramarginal vein parallel to and remote from margin, oil glands mostly island. Inflorescence terminal compound, peduncles 0.3–0.8 cm long, buds 7 per umbel, pedicels 0.1–0.3 cm long. Mature buds ovoid, 0.3–0.4 cm long, 0.2–0.3 cm wide, green, scar present, operculum conical, stamens inflexed, with outer staminodes, anthers adnate, positioned obliquely at filament tip, cuboid, dehiscing by terminal pores, style long, stigma pin-head shaped, locules 3 or 4, the placentae each with 4 vertical ovule rows. Flowers white. Fruit pedicellate (pedicels 0.1–0.3 cm long), barrel-shaped or obconical, 0.3–0.6 cm long, 0.3–0.5 cm wide, disc descending, valves 3 or 4, enclosed. Seeds brown or grey, 1–2 mm long, ovoid or flattened-ovoid, often pointed at one end, dorsal surface shallowly pitted, hilum ventral. Cultivated seedlings (measured at ca node 10): cotyledons reniform to oblong; stems square in cross-section, warty or smooth; leaves always petiolate, opposite for 5 or 6 pairs then becoming alternate, ovate-lanceolate, 3.5–7 cm long, 2–4 cm wide, base rounded to tapering, margin entire, apex pointed, discolorous, mid-green above, slightly paler beneath.