Glabrous shrub or tree, 2-15 (20) m tall, to 30 cm dbh; bark reddish-brown, thin. Leaves alternate, clustered at apex of branches, thick; petioles less than 1 cm long; blades oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, bluntly acuminate, obtuse to rounded at base, 5-12 cm long, 2.5-5 cm wide; veins except midrib indistinct. Flowers 5-parted, solitary in axils, pleasantly aromatic (anise-like), on pedicels 2-5 cm long; calyx subtended by 2 sepaloid bracteoles to 4 mm long; sepals unequal, +/- broadly ovate, ca 1 cm long, white to greenish-white; petals white, yellow at apex, +/- equaling length of sepals, connate at base; stamens many, included; filaments united and adnate to corolla at base; anthers with a prolonged connective at apex; ovary conical, 2-celled; ovules 4 or 5 per cell; style slender, pointed. Fruits broadly ovoid, l-2 cm wide, cream-colored at maturity, often with tinges of red, the outer wall thick, bursting irregularly at maturity; seeds few, +/- ovoid-cylindrical, to ca 10 mm long and 5 mm wide at base, with a thin, bright-red, pulpy covering. Croat 14963. Rare; collected along the shore of Orchid Island, along the northern shore of BCI, and in the forest on Zetek Trail. Flowers in the late dry season, in March and April; sometimes flowering a second time from late September to November. The fruits mature from July to September.