Trees to 12 m tall, evergreen. Branches glabrous, lenticellate. Axillary leaf buds ovoid, fulvous pubescent, apex obtuse. Petiole 0.8-2.5 cm; leaf blade ovate, elliptic-ovate, elliptic, or oblong, 6-20 × 3-8 cm, papery to thinly leathery, glabrous at maturity, secondary veins 7-12 on each side of midvein and forming a ca. 60° angle with midvein, secondary and reticulate veins prominent on both surfaces when dry, base obtuse to rounded and slightly decurrent onto petiole, apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescences internodal or terminal on a short branchlet, 1-flowered. Flower buds ovoid to subglobose. Pedicel 1.5-2 cm, glabrous. Sepals broadly ovate, 3-4 × 3-4 mm, free, glabrous. Outer petals greenish yellow to pale yellow and inside basally with a red spot, broadly ovate, 1.5-3 × 1.3-2.5 cm, outside glabrous, inside minutely puberulent, apex obtuse; inner petals outside yellow, inside carmine, 1.2-2.5 × 0.7-1.5 cm, minutely puberulent. Stamens oblong, 3-4 mm; connectives apically slightly convex. Carpels connate at anthesis, glabrous. Syncarp yellow to orange, ovoid, 5-12 × 5-8 cm, smooth, apex rounded. Seeds pale reddish brown, 1.3-1.5 cm. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

The insipid fruit, pond apple, are mostly used for jellies or eaten raw. This tree is tolerant of saline soils and is considered a very troublesome invasive species in coastal areas of Australia.

Cultivated; 100-200 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [native to tropical America].