Tree or small tree to 6 (rarely 10) m high, with a watery, white latex; shoot tips with appressed, reddish hairs. Leaves: lamina elliptic-rhombic (to broadly obovate), 4–8 cm long, 2–4 cm wide, cuneate at base, entire margin, obtuse-rounded or slightly retuse at apex, coriaceous, ± shiny, reticulate, 5–8 primary veins on each side of midrib. Flowers 2–6, clustered, axillary. Calyx 5-lobed, quincuncial, free, broadly ovate, 4–5 mm long, appressed pilose. Corolla tube 5–7 mm long; lobes 5, obovate, 2 mm long, truncate to very slightly retuse. Stamens 5; staminodes 5, subulate, blunt, c. 1 mm long. Ovary conoidal, c. 2 mm long, pilose; style persistent, simple, c. 8 mm long, with 1–1.5 mm exserted. Fruit ovoid-ellipsoidal, 1.3–1.5 cm long, apex attenuate into persistent style. Seeds 1–3, obliquely ovoid-ellipsoidal, flattened, 1.5–2 cm long; scar slightly shorter than seed.
As suggested by the common name, this plant was used by early settlers for axehandles, having tough wood (Hutton 2002: 86).
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