Trees or shrubs to 10 m, evergreen. Branchlets angular, along with petiole and leaf blade densely silvery-gray or rusty lepidote. Petiole 2-5 mm; leaf blade narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, rarely narrowly ovate, 1.5-10 × 0.5-2 cm, leathery, glabrous, base cuneate or attenuate, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate and mucronate to cuspidate; primary veins 5-11 on each side of midrib, obscure, somewhat raised adaxially. Panicles axillary or terminal, 2-4 cm. Flowers bisexual or functionally unisexual, subsessile. Calyx 1-1.5 mm. Corolla white, 2.5-4 mm; tube ca. 1 mm; lobes elliptic-oblong, involute, 1.5-3 mm. Drupe ellipsoid or subglobose, 0.7-4 cm. 2n = 46.

The fruit are used for oil and food.

Widely cultivated in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang. Probably originating in the Mediterranean region or SW Asia.