Mallet to 15 m tall. Non-lignotuberous. Bark smooth throughout, pale and dark grey over orange, shedding in long ribbons. Branchlets non-glaucous; pith oil glands present. Juvenile growth (coppice or field seedlings to 50 cm): stems rounded in cross-section; juvenile leaves always petiolate, alternate, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 5.5–10 cm long, 0.8–2 cm wide, dull, green. Adult leaves alternate, petioles 1–2 cm long; blade narrowly lanceolate, 7–12 cm long, 0.7–1.5 cm wide, base tapering to petiole, margin entire, apex pointed, concolorous, glossy, green, side-veins at an acute or wider angle to midrib, reticulation very dense, intramarginal vein present, oil glands intersectional. Inflorescence axillary unbranched, peduncles 0.4–1 cm long, flattened or angular; buds 7, 9 or 11, sessile to very shortly pedicellate, pedicels 0–0.1 cm long. Mature buds small, ovoid to ± cylindrical (0.6–0.7 cm long, 0.4 cm wide), scar present, operculum conical (0.3 cm long), sometimes slightly wider than the hypanthium, radially striate, stamens inflexed, anthers cuboid to wedge-shaped, versatile, dorsifixed, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, style long and straight, stigma blunt to rounded, locules 3 or 4, the placentae each with 4 vertical rows of ovules. Flowers white. Fruit sessile to very shortly pedicellate, pedicels 0–0.1 cm long, cupular to almost obconical, 0.4–0.5 cm long, 0.4–0.7 cm wide, disc descending, valves 3 or 4, near rim level or slightly exserted due to persistent style fragments. Seeds reddish brown and glossy, 0.8–2.5 mm long, flattened-ovoid with the outline often angular, dorsal surface sometimes lacunose, shallowly reticulate, hilum ventral. Cultivated seedlings (measured at node 10): cotyledons reniform; stems square in cross-section, sometimes slightly glaucous; leaves always petiolate, opposite for 3 to 5 nodes then alternate, ovate, 5–8 cm long, 2–4 cm wide, dull, green.
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