Shrub or small tree 2–10 (–20) m high. Leaves: petiole 15–40 mm long; lamina elliptic, ovate to lanceolate, 4–16 cm long, 1.5-6 cm wide, cuneate to rounded at base, coarsely toothed, each tooth ending in a short hard point, acuminate to acute at apex; midrib prominent on both surfaces, flattened to slightly sunken above, raised beneath. Male inflorescence 1.5–2 cm long, branched, 5–16-flowered; pedicels 4–8 mm long, pubescent. Male flowers ± flattened-cupuliform, c. 6 mm diam.; tepals 8; stamens c. 50, with connective shortly elongated into a small appendage; filaments very short. Female inflorescence 1.5–2 cm long, (1) 2–4-flowered; pedicels 8–10 mm long, pubescent. Female flowers ± flattened-cupuliform, c. 6 mm diam.; tepals c. 12, small; carpels 40–50; ovary ± columnar, glabrous or shortly pubescent; stigma short, ± conical. Drupes ± globose, c. 3.5 mm diam., tightly clustered, maturing yellow or orange.
Grows particularly near the margins of cool temperate rainforests, often as an understorey tree in wet sclerophyll forest, from 20–1300 m alt.
Home