Small tree or shrub; branches obtusely tetragonous, smooth, vertically fissured; leaves opposite, decussate, large, broadly elliptic-lanceolate, glabrous, tapering at base, acute or acuminate at apex, usually one of the pair suppressed, young leaves tomentose beneath or on both sides; stipules connate, broad, sheathing, entire or 2-3 fid, membranous, ovate or oblong; petioles short; flowers many in dense, globular, axillary, white, clustered umbels; peduncles solitary or leaf opposed, sometimes 2 together; calyx tube short, limbs very short or truncate, corolla white, tube short, glabrous within, lobes 5, short or oblong, valvate, funnel shaped; mouth hairy, lanceolate, acute; stamens 5, filaments short, anthers linear or oblong, slightly exerted; ovary 2-celled, (spuriously) 4-celled, style slender, branches short or long, ovules solitary, ascending from the base of the septum; fruits of many drupes coalscent into fleshy globose head, 2-5 cm cross, pyrene ovoid or compressed, 1-seeded, stony, smooth, yellowish-green when ripe, not winged on edges; seeds oblong or reniform.