Trees to 8 m tall. Branchlets glabrous except for pubescent base of young shoots between bud scale scars. Petiole 1--2 cm; leaf blade elliptic to narrowly obovate, 7--12(--16) X 2.5--4.5 cm, leathery, glabrous, base cuneate, margin entire or inconspicuously sharply dentate, apex acuminate, lateral veins 9--12 pairs and adaxially impressed. Racemes forming a globose cone in bud, becoming 6--9 cm, axis spreading yellowish brown villous, base surrounded by several glabrous leathery scales; bracts early deciduous, elliptic, boat shaped, 5--9 X 3--7 mm, appressed pubescent to sericeous; bractlets early deciduous, linear to elliptic, 2.5--3 X ca. 1 mm, pubescent. Ovary 1--2 mm, glabrous. Calyx glabrous; lobes triangular-ovate, 1--1.5 mm. Corolla 4--6 mm. Stamens 40--50. Disc inconspicuous. Style base conic and minutely soft hairy to densely sericeous. Drupes ellipsoid, 5--12 X 3--7 mm, glabrous, apex with persistent erect calyx lobes. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Jul.