Evergreen shrubs to small trees, 2-8 m tall; branches gray-black to gray-brown, terete, sturdy, twigs greenish, with striae. Petiole 3-5(-8) mm; leaf blade thickly leathery, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 4-6 × 2-2.5 cm, base cuneate or suborbicular, margin crenulate, apex obtuse or acute; lateral veins 8-12 pairs, curving forward and disappearing before reaching margin. Peduncle many, 1.5-3.5 cm, 1-3 × dichotomously branched, several flowered; pedicel 5-20 mm. Flowers 5-merous, ca. 1.5 cm in diam.; sepals semiorbicular; petals creamy white with purplish veining around edges, orbicular to obovate. Capsule obovoid-globose, 5-angled, pinkish or reddish when fresh, brown or yellow-brown to red-brown when dry, 1.2-1.3 × 1.2-1.4(-1.5) cm. Seeds ellipsoid, dark brown, partially covered by orange aril. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jul-Nov.