Ternstroemia pachyphylla L. K. Ling (1951), not Krug & Urban (1896); T. subrotundifolia Hung T. Chang.

Shrubs or trees, 2-10 m tall. Bark grayish brown to blackish brown, smooth. Young branches grayish brown; current year branchlets reddish brown, glabrous. Petiole 1-2 cm, stout, glabrous; leaf blade broadly elliptic to obovate, (5-)8-11(-13) × (3-)4-6.5 cm, thickly leathery, abaxially pale green and densely reddish brown or brown glandular punctate, adaxially dark green and shiny, both surfaces glabrous, midvein abaxially elevated and adaxially flat or slightly impressed, secondary veins 5-7 on each side of midvein and obscure on both surfaces or adaxially visible, base broadly cuneate to obtuse, margin entire or rarely apically sparsely serrate, apex abruptly shortly acute and with an obtuse tip. Flowers axillary, solitary. Pedicel 1.5-2 cm, slightly recurved, glabrous. Male flowers: bracteoles ovate, triangular-ovate, or ovate, 4-5 × ca. 3 mm, margin sparsely glandular dentate; sepals ovate to suborbicular, 6-8 × 6-8 mm, glabrous, margin glandular dentate, apex rounded; petals white, obovate to oblong-obovate, ca. 10 × 8 mm, apex rounded and retuse; stamens numerous, ca. 6 mm; anthers ovate, ca. 3 mm; pistillode very small. Bisexual flowers not seen. Fruit compressed-globose, 1.5-1.8 × 1.6-2 cm, 3-4(-5)-loculed with 1 seed per locule; pedicel 1.5-2 cm, ca. 3 mm thick; persistent bracteoles triangular-ovate, ca. 3 × 4 mm; persistent sepals suborbicular, 6-7 × 6-7 mm; persistent style 1-2 mm, apically 3- or 4(or 5)-lobed. Seeds subreniform, 7-8 × ca. 6 mm. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Oct-Nov.

Forests on mountain slopes, thickets along streams; 700-1700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, S Guangxi, Jiangxi [Vietnam].