Tree 4-12 m tall. Stems glabrous or puberulent. Leaves paripinnate or less often imparipinnate; petiole plus rachis 3-10 cm long, slightly flattened adaxially, glabrous; petiolules 5-12 mm long, swollen for most of their length; leaflets 2-4(6), glabrous, opposite, subopposite or less often alternate, chartaceous or subcoriaceous, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 5-19 × 2-9.5 cm, usually drying brownish, the base strongly unequal, the apex acuminate, obtusely acuminate, or obtuse, the margins entire, crenulate; primary and secondary veins slightly prominent, tertiary veins reticulate. Thyrses axillary, usually fasciculate, simple or paniculate, 2-10 cm long; axes sparsely pubescent. Flowers solitary (dichasia reduced to a single flower) or in depauperate simple dichasia; pedicels 2.5-5 mm long, sparsely pubescent to tomentulose. Calyx ferruginous-tomentulose, ca. 1 mm long, the lobes triangular, nearly free to base; petals white, widely spatulate, < 1 mm long, shortly clawed at base; appendages simple, sericeous-tomentose, as long as the petal, adnate at base of petal to form a pocket; disc glabrous, cup-shaped; stamens 7-8, 1-1.5 mm long, the filaments tomentose on lower half; ovary sparsely pubescent especially along the unbranched style. Capsule glabrous or puberulent, pinkish to red, trigono-turbinate, 1-1.5 cm long, apiculate at apex, with 4-5(8) mm long stipe at base; pericarp smooth; mesocarp woody; endocarp glabrous. Seed black, shiny, ellipsoid or obovoid, 5-9 mm long, lower third with white, thin, irregularly lobed arillode.
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