Meliosma laui var. megaphylla H. W. Li ex S. K. Chen; M. simplicifolia (Roxburgh) Walpers subsp. laui (Merrill) Beusekom.

Trees small, to 7 m tall, evergreen. Buds, young branches, abaxial surface of leaves, petioles, inflorescences, and outsides of sepals densely brownish lanuginous; branchlets light gray, shallowly grooved. Leaves simple; petiole 1-4 cm; leaf blade elliptic, elliptic-obovate, or oblong-lanceolate, 7-14(-25) × 2.5-5.5(-9) cm, leathery, adaxially subglabrous except on midvein and lateral veins, lateral veins 9-13 pairs, anastomosing near margin, base cuneate or rounded, margin entire, apex acuminate, with a sharp tip. Panicle terminal, 15-25 cm, elongating, branched 3 times, lateral branches explanate. Flowers aromatic, dense on tertiary branches, ca. 3 mm in diam., sessile. Sepals 5, ovate, ca. 2 mm. Petals yellow: 3 outer ones broadly ovate, ca. 3 mm; 2 inner ones ca. 0.7 mm, bifid nearly to half at an acute angle, apex ciliate. Stamens ca. 1 mm; filaments of fertile stamens equal to inner petals; anthers broader than long; connectives enlarged, peltate. Pistil ca. 1.5 mm; ovary 1.5-2 × shorter than style, glabrous. Drupe obovoid or subglobose, 8-12 mm in diam.; endocarp slightly laterally flattened, with coarse, scattered netlike strips, midrib sharply prominent. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Jul-Aug.

Forests; 600-800 m. Guangdong, SW Guangxi, SE Hainan, Yunnan [Vietnam].