Helicia annularis W. W. Smith; H. tonkinensis Lecomte.

Shrubs or trees, 3-20 m tall. Branchlets and leaves glabrous. Petiole 0.5-1.5 cm; leaf blade elliptic, obovate-oblong, narrowly oblong, or lanceolate, 5-12(-15) × 2.5-5.5 cm, papery to ± leathery, base cuneate and somewhat decurrent into petiole, margin entire, remotely serrate on apical half only in seedlings or leaves of fast growing shoots, apex shortly acuminate, ± acute, or obtuse; secondary veins 5-8 pairs. Inflorescences axillary, 7-14(-20) cm; rachis glabrous or sometimes rachis and pedicel whitish pubescent when young, glabrescent; bracts of flower pairs triangular, 1-1.5 mm; floral bracts subulate, ca. 0.5 mm. Pedicel 2.5-4 mm, free. Perianth whitish or yellowish, 0.9-1.2 cm, glabrous. Anthers 2-3 mm. Hypogynous glands ovate, free or sometimes connate into a deeply 4-lobed ring. Ovary glabrous. Fruit bluish black to black, ellipsoid, 1-1.5 × 0.8-1 cm; pericarp ca. 0.5 mm thick, leathery. Fl. Jun-Oct, fr. Nov-Mar.

This species provides timber.

Broad-leaved evergreen forests, mixed forests, plains, mountain slopes; (near sea level to) 800(-1300) m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [Cambodia, Japan, Thailand, N Vietnam].