Shrubs or shrublets, sparsely branched. Stipules free, caducous. Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, denticulate, nerves numerous, parallel, from the midrib curving sidewards, straightly ascending to the marginal veins at an angle of c. 80°; petiole ± winged. Inflorescences terminal, many-flowered, compound racemes; bracts small, caducous. Flowers ☿ or polygamous. Sepals 5, turning purplish red in fruit. Petals 5, white or pinkish. Staminodes 0(-5), filamentous. Stamens 5, free; anthers subsessile, rostrate. Ovary 5-celled; ovules 2 per cell, pendulous, axile; stigma minute. Fruit a berry with 5 pyrenes. Seeds 1 (2) per cell.
Everwet tropical forest below 1250 m, in kerangas forests, on low ridges in peat-swamp forests, and in open ridge forests, on poor, mostly sandy soils. Dispersal probably by birds because of conspicuous, white, rose-pink or red berries ( RIDLEY Disp. 1930 410 ).
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