Sarcocephalus officinalis Pierre ex Pitard in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 3: 26. 1922.

Trees, apparently evergreen, to 12 m tall; branchlets angled and rather flattened becoming terete, puberulent to glabrescent. Petiole 10-15[-20] mm; leaf blade drying papery, elliptic to broadly elliptic or infrequently ovate or obovate, 7-11[-15] × 3.5-7[-10] cm, glabrous, adaxially dark brown and matte to shiny, abaxially pale brown and matte, base cuneate to obtuse, apex shortly acuminate with tip slightly blunt; secondary veins 5-7 pairs, usually with tiny foveolate domatia in abaxial axils; stipules caducous, obovate to elliptic, 6-10 mm, glabrous, smooth, rounded. Inflorescences terminal, puberulent to glabrous; peduncles 1-3.5[-4.5] cm, in lower part articulate, bearing caducous bracts 2-4 mm; flowering heads 1-3, 5-6 mm in diam. across calyces, ca. 15 mm in diam. across corollas. Calyx limb deeply lobed; lobes 5, oblanceolate to spatulate, ca. 1 mm, glabrescent, fleshy, rounded to subtruncate. Corolla color unknown, narrowly funnelform, glabrous outside and apparently inside; tube 3-4 mm; lobes 5, ligulate to elliptic, 1-1.5 mm, obtuse to rounded. Stigmas 1.5-2 mm, exserted for ca. 3 mm. Fruiting heads (i.e., multiple fruit) yellow, 9-15 mm in diam., fleshy, with surface rough (i.e., pitted with calyx limb scars); seeds ca. 1 mm, with testa shiny black, foveolate. Fl. summer, fr. Jul, Sep.

Forests at middle elevations. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan [Borneo, Cambodia, Indonesia (Sumatra), Laos, Malaysia, ?Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].