Shrub or small spreading tree to 7 m high. Leaves alternate, glabrous; petiole 1–2.5 cm long; lamina lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, (6–) 8–14 cm long, (1.8–) 2.5–4.5 cm wide, acutely narrowed onto petiole, entire or sometimes obscurely crenate-dentate, acute to subacuminate with fine tip, shiny green. Flowers (3 or) 4 per leaf axil; pedicels 5–20 mm long. Sepals linear-lanceolate, 5–8 mm long, slenderly tipped. Corolla white with mauve spots and pilose in lower part of lobes; tube 6–8 mm long; lobes broadly ovate, 6–7 mm long, obtusely rounded. Stamens 4, 3–4 mm long. Ovary flask-shaped, 2 mm long; style slender, 3–4 mm long. Drupe ± spherical, 5–6 mm long, white, turning mauve.
Occurs in stamp designs, featuring on a 1c Norfolk Island stamp issued in 1983, and on a $1.55 stamp celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Norfolk Island National Park in 2011.