Shrubs 1-3 m tall. Twigs slender, conspicuously striate. Petiole 4-10 mm; leaf blade gray-green on both surfaces when dry, oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, rarely ovate, 5-8 × 1.5-3.5 cm, papery; secondary veins slender, obscure but ± visible, to 5 pairs, base abruptly or broadly cuneate, margin cartilaginous, involute, apex caudate-acuminate. Plant dioecious. Male flowers unknown. Female flowers solitary and axillary, purplish; pedicels absent or nearly so; sepals: outer 2 subovate, 2-3 mm; inner 2 elliptic, 4-5 mm; petals equal, suborbicular, 4-5 mm, apex obtuse; staminodes 12, usually shorter than pistil; filaments united forming a shallow cup, enveloping ovary base; ovary ovoid-oblong, 4-loculed; style very short; stigma peltate, papillate. Fruit fusiform or narrowly ellipsoid, 1.5-1.8 cm, to 1 cm in diam., smooth, with persistent sepals and remnants of staminodes at base. Seeds 2. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Oct-Dec.
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