Epicarpurus zeylanicus Thwaites, Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 4: 1. 1852; Diplocos zeylanica (Thwaites) Bureau; Taxotrophis caudata Hutchinson; T. zeylanica (Thwaites) Thwaites.

Shrubs; dioecious. Branches pubescent; spines few, axillary. Leaf blade ovate-oblong, narrowly elliptic, or lanceolate, 4.5-10(-20) × 1.2-4.5(-5.5) cm, thinly leathery, glabrous, base obtuse to cuneate, margin with or without 5 or more gland-tipped spiny teeth, apex shortly attenuate and tipped by 1 long tooth flanked by 2 short triangular teeth; secondary veins 6-9 on each side of midvein. Bisexual inflorescences absent. Male inflorescences racemose, narrowly elliptic, 1.5-2 cm, densely flowered. Female inflorescences shortly racemose, 2-6-flowered; peduncle 1-1.2 cm; bracts minute, scale-like. Male flowers: sessile or pedicellate; calyx lobes 4, greenish white, ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous; filaments exserted at anthesis; anthers globose; pistillode minute. Female flowers: long pedicellate; calyx lobes 4, ovate, enclosing drupe when in fruit; ovary obliquely ovoid; style branched, ca. 2 mm. Drupes enclosed by enlarged calyx lobes, without a fleshy base. Fl. Apr, fr. May.

Specimens from Yuanyang Xian in Yunnan may be a natural hybrid with Streblus ilicifolius. The leaf shape has characteristics of the two species. The male inflorescences are ca. 2.2 cm, and the female inflorescences have clusters of 2 or 3 pedicellate flowers.

200-500 m. Hainan, Yunnan (Hekou, Yuanyang) [India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam].