Trees 25-40 m tall, d.b.h. 30-40 cm, occasionally with buttresses when large. Bark gray, coarse. Branchlets brown pubescent when young, furrowed when dry. Stipules lanceolate, caducous. Petiole 5-8 mm, with long thick hairs; leaf blade elliptic to obovate but narrowly elliptic on mature plants, 7-19 × 3-6 cm, abaxially pale green but brown when dry and densely covered with long thick hairs but more densely so along main veins, adaxially dark green and sparsely covered with long thick hairs, base rounded to ± cordate and asymmetric, margin serrate, apex acuminate; secondary veins 10-13 on each side of midvein, apically inflexed. Male inflorescences ca. 1.5 cm wide; involucral bracts triangular, boatlike, outside pubescent. Female inflorescences pear-shaped, 1-flowered, covered by numerous bracts. Male flowers: filament very short; anthers ellipsoid, with purple spots. Female flowers: without sepals; style 2-branched, subuliform, pubescent. Drupes bright red to purple red, pear-shaped, ca. 2 cm in diam. when mature. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. May-Jun.

There are several recognized subspecies, but only subsp. toxicaria occurs in China.

The latex contains varying amounts of cardiac glycosides and can be very poisonous. The bark fiber is used for cordage.

Rain forests; below 1500 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, S Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].