Herbs or subshrubs to 2 m tall, dioecious. Stems erect, glabrous. Petiole 0.5-2 cm, basal sheath cupular or tubular, membranous, 8-10 mm, apex truncate; leaf blade narrowly lanceolate, 10-23 × 1.5-4 cm, membranous or papery, glandular mucronate, pale yellow abaxially when dry, olive green adaxially when dry, base cuneate, margin densely serrulate, apex gradually angustate becoming caudate; midvein prominent abaxially, curved adaxially; lateral veins 15-22 pairs. Male spikes 3-5, clustered at apex of branches, pedunculate, 1.5-3.5

cm excluding peduncle at anthesis; bracts 0.8-1.2 cm; stamen 1; filament absent; anther oblong, ca. 2 mm, connective with a projected, acute appendage at apex, 0.7-1 mm. Female inflorescences terminal or axillary, branches few, 1.5-5 cm, ca. 2 cm wide; bracts large, 0.8-1.2 cm, with many small, orange-yellow spots. Drupes green, subellipsoid-trigonous, ca. 4 mm; apical part of bracts tightly adnate to fruit, elongated into a long beak. Fl. Dec-Mar, fr. Feb-Jun.

The name Hedyosmum nutans Swartz was misapplied to this species by E. D. Merrill (Lingnan Sci. J. 5: 59. 1927).

Forests, thickets, forested ravines; ca. 500 m. Guangdong, Hainan [Indonesia, S Vietnam].