Trees or shrubs, 5-15 m tall, to 30 cm in diam. Bark dark gray. Branchlets usually with interrupted rings. Petiole ca. 1 cm; leaf blade oblong, obovate-oblong to oblanceolate, 5-10 × 2-3.5 cm, subleathery, midvein slightly raised adaxially, secondary veins 10-18 pairs, tertiary veins reticulate, base cuneate, margin reflexed, apex acute or obtuse. Plant dioecious; flowers solitary or in an umbel-like cyme; pedicels 3-7 mm. Male flowers: sepals suborbicular, equal, 3-5 mm; petals orange or yellowish, obovate-oblong, 7-9 mm; stamen fascicles not evident; anthers aggregated into a head, 2-celled, cells longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode absent. Female flowers: sepals and petals similar to those of males; staminode fascicles free, shorter than pistil; ovary ovoid, 8-10-loculed; style absent; stigma peltate, convex, radiately 8-10-lobed, papillate. Fruit ovoid or globose, 2-4 × 2-3.5 cm, subtended by persistent sepals at base and crowned by convex stigma. Seeds 1. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Oct-Dec.

The fruit is edible. The seeds yield ca. 60% oil (seed pulp up to 70% oil). The oil is used as a lubricant and for manufacturing soap. The timber is used for making furniture and woodcuts. The bark contains 3%-8% tannin.

● Dense or sparse forests on plains, hills, or in valleys; 200-400 (-1200) m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan.