Trees, up to 30 m or more, up to 1 m diam.; trunk straight, columnar. Bark brown, scaly. Branchlets slender, smooth to striate, lenticellate, greyish brown, darker at apex, leaf-scars distinct, leaf-traces often visible. Leaves: petiole 1.5-2.5 cm long; blade obovate or rarely elliptic, (3.5-)5-16(-21) by (2.2-)3-9 cm (according to Merrill 1904, up to 10 cm), thinly papyraceous, glossy, base slightly decurrent, margin finely serrate or crenulate, apex acuminate, acumen up to 16 mm long, narrow, tip blunt; midrib strongly prominent beneath, flat or sometimes prominulous above, primary veins 9-12 pairs, making an angle of c. 60° with the midrib, prominent to prominulous beneath, prominulous above, arcuately and faintly anastomosing near the margin, tertiary nerves regular, reticulation distinct, veinlets ending in a mucro at the sinus. Inflorescences: flowers solitary or in 2-5-flowered racemes (c. 1 cm long); bracts at the base of the pedicel, occasionally median, oblong, 2-7 by 1.5-3 mm; bracteoles ovate, 3-5 by 2-3 mm. Flowers c. 7 cm long, glabrous, slightly fragrant; pedicel 2-5(-15) mm long, c. 3 mm thick. Calyx tube turbinate, c. 1 cm long, slightly ribbed; lobes coriaceous, semiorbicular, 5-7 by 6-10 mm. Petals oblong, 38-48 by 10-15 mm, thinly papyraceous, base tapering, apex acute. Stamens white at the apex shading to deep red at the base; tube c. 0.5 cm high, free part c. 5 cm long; anthers c. 1 by 0.6 mm. Disc a rim of c. 1 mm high. Style green, 6.8 cm long; stigma green. Fruits ovoid, without basal neck, not compressed or angular, c. 4.5 by 3 cm, green. Seeds 4-6, irregularly compressed, 1-5 cm long.
Uses The wood is used for posts, beams, joints, rafters, flooring, interior finish and cabinet work. The wood rarely comes to the Manila market except in medium-grade miscellaneous lots, but sometimes is ignorantly or fraudulently substituted for betis (a Sapotaceae species) or other heavy, dark-red woods ( Schneider Bull. Bur. Forest. Philipp. Islands 14 1916 179 ).
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