Trees to 20 m tall. Branches black-brown when dry; branchlets brown pubescent. Petiole 1.5-4 cm, brown pubescent; leaf blade obovate-oblong, broadest from middle upward, 13-25(-35) × (5-)7-9(-15) cm, thinly leathery, abaxially brown puberulent, becoming sparsely so on older leaves, or rarely glabrescent and pubescent in vein axils only, adaxially glabrous, lateral veins 7-9(-12) per side, prominently raised abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially, veinlets conspicuous on both surfaces, base very narrow, rounded, margin minutely serrulate, apex acute. Flowers solitary. Pedicel 2-3 cm, pubescent. Sepals 4, broadly ovate, 7-8 mm, both surfaces tomentose. Petals 4, broadly ovate, both surfaces sparsely pilose, margin slightly 3-5-dentate at apices. Stamens ca. 80; filaments ca. 4 mm, puberulent; anthers puberulent, awned at apices. Disk cushion-shaped, thick. Ovary tomentose, 4-loculed; style subulate, 8-10 mm, pubescent in lower 1/2. Capsule 2-3 × ca. 2 cm; prickles 1.5-2 mm; valves 2-3 cm, 2-3 mm thick. Seeds black, shiny, ca. 1 cm; aril yellow when dry, covering 1/2 of seed. Fl. Apr, fr. Sep-Nov.

Forests; 1400-2500 m. SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal].