Machilus tavoyana Meisner in A. Candolle, Prodr. 15(1): 41. 1864; M. henryi Hemsley; Phoebe cuneata Blume var. poilanei H. Liu; P. henryi (Hemsley) Merrill.

Trees, usually 8-12 m tall. Two-year-old branchlets sparsely pubescent or glabrate; current year branchlets densely yellow-gray villous. Petiole 1-2 cm, pubescent; leaf blade lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 9-22 × 2.5-5.5 cm, thinly leathery, abaxially densely gray-white or gray-brown villous becoming pubescent, adaxially glabrous, midrib adaxially elevated, lateral veins 10-15 pairs, anastomosing and disappearing near margin, abaxially distinct, adaxially indistinct or slightly distinct, veinlets somewhat visible, base attenuate, usually decurrent, apex caudate-acuminate. Panicles numerous, axillary at upper part of newly sprouted branchlet, usually 9-16 cm, rarely to 25 cm, branched on top, densely yellowish gray pubescent. Flowers and pedicel 4-5 mm. Perianth yellowish brown, ovate, pubescent on both surfaces, apex obtuse. Filaments hairy, those of 3rd series with sessile or subsessile glands at base. Staminodes stipitate, densely villous. Ovary subglobose, glabrous or sparsely pubescent at upper part; style filiform, erect or somewhat curved; stigma dish-shaped. Fruit ellipsoid-obovoid or ellipsoid, ca. 1.2 cm; fruiting pedicel short, thickened; persistent perianth hairy on both surfaces. Fl. usually Feb-Mar, fr. May-Aug.

Mixed forests and thickets, very common in Hainan. Guangdong, SE Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].