Eupatorium celebicum Blume; E. javanicum Blume; Gymnanthemum arboreum (Buchanan-Hamilton) H. Robinson; Strobocalyx arboreus (Buchanan-Hamilton) Schultz Bipontinus; S. blumeanus (Candolle) Schultz Bipontinus; S. celebicus (Blume) Schultz Bipontinus; S. javanicus (Blume) Schultz Bipontinus; Vernonia arborea var. javanica (Blume) C. B. Clarke; V. blumeana Candolle; V. celebica (Blume) Candolle; V. javanica (Blume) Candolle; V. urdanetensis Elmer; V. vaniotii H. Léveillé.

Trees or erect shrubs, to 20 m tall. Branches densely fulvous tomentulose or ± glabrescent, rarely glabrous. Petiole 10-30 mm, densely pubescent; leaf blade ovate, elliptic-ovate, or oblong, 8-25 × 4-10 cm, thinly leathery, abaxially white pubescent, densely so on veins, or glabrous, adaxially fulvous pubescent along veins or glabrous, glandular, lateral veins 8-12-paired, adaxially distinctly raised, veinlets reticulate, base obtusely rounded or attenuate, margin entire, apex acuminate. Synflorescences terminal, panicles broader than long, shallowly rounded to ± flat-topped. Capitula very many; peduncles to 10 mm, mostly much shorter, densely pubescent; bracteoles absent. Involucre cup-shaped, 2-3 × 6-8 mm; phyllaries ca. 5-seriate, ovate or ovate-oblong, 0.5-2 mm, densely pilose, rarely subglabrous, apex obtuse or subacute, outer very short, ovate. Receptacle flat, areolate. Florets 5 or 6; corolla pink, pale purplish, or white, tubular, 5-7 mm, lobes acute, glabrous. Style branches long. Achenes compressed, 2-3 mm, 3- or 4-angled and 8-10-ribbed, inconspicuously pilose and glandular. Pappus 1- or 2-seriate, dirty white; outer setae few, almost absent, ca. 1 mm; inner setae 5-7 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Nov.

Many collections named as Vernonia arborea in European herbaria are V. bockiana.

Open forests in valleys or on slopes; (100-)800-1200 m. Guangxi, SE Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].