Tree, usually 3-10 (15) m tall; wood soft, light in weight; branchlets and inflorescences minutely and densely pubescent. Petioles stout, to 1.5 cm long; blades elliptic to oblong-elliptic, acuminate and often +/- twisted to one side, rounded to acute at base, 10-32 cm long, 3-9 cm wide, +/- glabrous (sparsely and obscurely pubescent) and shiny above, dull below and densely and minutely appressed-pubescent, often with tufts in axils. Panicles axillary, usually at end of branches, mostly 7-20 cm long; flowers bisexual, white, with sweet odor, to 13 mm wide; perianth lobes 6, acute to obtuse, broadly spreading, fleshy, pubescent outside, papillose inside; stamens almost sessile, about as broad as long, topped by a broad, white, papillose connective about half their height, the outer 6 subtended by and alternate with fleshy rounded glands, the inner 3 held above the stigma, affixed to a thick disk, alternating with staminodia, the disk about as high as ovary; ovary glabrous, round; style about as long as ovary; stigma globular, probably receptive before pollen is released. Fruits ellipsoid, ca 1 cm long, black at maturity. Croat 4888, 7847. Frequent along the shore, at least in some areas of the northern part of the island and on Orchid Island; occasional elsewhere along the shore. Flowers from late November to early April, chiefly from December to March. The fruits mature mostly during April and May.