Trees, small, rarely shrubs, evergreen, 3-10 m tall, rarely to 13 m tall. Branches terete, striate, pubescent when young, lenticels many, dense, yellowish white. Leaves with petiole 15-35 cm; leaflets 2 or 3(or 4) pairs, subopposite; petiolules less than 1 cm; blades oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate, 8-18 × 2.5-7.5 cm, thinly leathery, abaxially glabrous or hairy at vein axils, lateral veins 7-10 pairs, nearly ascending to margin and arched upward, prominent abaxially, base broadly cuneate to
nearly obtuse, apex cuspidate and mucronate. Inflorescences compact, multiflowered, shorter than leaves, rarely longer than leaves, ferruginous tomentose. Flowers fragrant. Pedicels 1-2 mm. Sepals ca. 1 mm, pilose. Petals 5, nearly as long as calyx; scales villous. Disk lobed. Stamens often 8; filaments unequal in length, 3-4 mm. Ovary appressed pilose. Fertile schizocarps red or orange, ellipsoid, 1-1.5 cm × 7-9 mm. Seeds dark red, arillode pellucid. Fl. early summer, fr. autumn.

This species is used for its timber.

Primary and secondary forests. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [India and SE Asia to Solomon Islands].