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Leaf blades 8–15(19) × 2.5–7(8.8) cm, elliptic or obovate, with an acumen 5–15(20) mm long, apiculate at tip, cuneate or very rarely truncate at the base, membranous or papery, glabrous, with scattered hairs or sparsely pubescent on both surfaces but with at least the midrib above and the midrib and lateral nerves beneath hairy (clearly so in young leaves); lateral nerves in 4–9 main pairs; tertiary nerves not conspicuous; domatia inconspicuous; bacterial nodules (0)2–3, linear, up to 3 cm long, situated along the base of the midrib; petiole (3)4–8 mm long, puberulous or pubescent; stipules with limbs forming a sheath 2–6(7) mm long, truncate or broadly triangular, glabrous or pubescent outside, each bearing a filiform or stiff awn, 2–7 mm long, usually with at least a few hairs at the base.
Flowers sweet-scented, 7–8-merous, borne in leaf axils or at nodes from which the leaves have fallen, solitary, subsessile; bract and bracteoles similar, cupular, arranged in a series of 2–4, progressively larger towards the top, each cupule with a pair of short and a pair of longer awns, puberulous outside.
Calyx tube pubescent; limb 3–8 mm long, ellipsoid, closed in bud and bearing an apiculum 0.5–3 mm long, splitting into 2–3 lobes when the corolla opens, thin in texture and translucent or not, pubescent outside, often densely so at the base.
Shrub or a small tree (2)3–6 m high, partly deciduous (i.e. always with at least some leaves at apex of stems); young twigs often very slender, sparsely puberulous to pubescent; older stems with red-brown bark.
Placenta with (1)2 free ovules hanging at the base; style glabrous or pubescent, 7–8 mm long; pollen presenter below tips of anthers, lobes 1 mm long.
Corolla tube 3–7 mm long, 1.5 mm in diameter, pubescent inside except for the base; lobes 7–10 × 3–4 mm, acuminate at apex.
Fruit red, 1–1.5 cm in diameter, borne on stalks up to 6 mm long.
Filaments 0.75–1 mm long; anthers 3.5–4 mm long.
Seeds 8 mm in diameter.
