Shrub or small, deciduous tree, branchlets unarmed, yellow, gum or resin exuding from apical buds; leaves short petioled, elliptic, ovate-obovate, base narrowed, margin entire, apex subacute, shining, nerves 20-30 pair; stipules large, broadly ovate, acute, connate; flowers solitary, peduncled, fragrant, white turning to yellow; calyx tube oblong, teeth 5-9, ovate-lanceolate, lobes, narrow, persistent, corolla lobe 5, oblong, glabrous or puberulous; stamens 5, epipetalous; anthers sessile or subsessile, linear, inserted in the corolla tube; ovary 1-celled, ovules many, 2-seriate on 2-6 parietal placentas; style fusiform; stigma fusiform, 2-cleft; berries smooth, ellipsoid with a crown of persistent calyx, brownish-black, not ribbed; seeds rugose, brown-red.