A small to medium sized tree, 10 m or more tall. Leaves imparipinnate; leaflets 5-9(-11) in number, opposite, subsessile, 50-140 x 22-50 mm, ovate to ovate-oblong, glabrous above, rusty tomentose on the under surface. Bracts ± 1.2 mm long, broad ovate. Flowers unisexual, greenish, the male in compound and female in simple racemes. Calyx lobes 4, ± 1.2 mm long, broad ovate„obtuse, ciliate. Petals 4, 2 mm long, oblong, green yellow. Male flowers: Stamens 8, as long as the petals and-inserted below the annular disk; anthers ± 1.2 mm long, basifixed; filaments glabrous. Female flowers: Ovary oblong; styles 3-4, stout. Drupe 10-12 mm long, oblong, compressed, red.

Fl. Per.: March-April.

Type: Coromandel, Burmann, based on a Coromandel specimen illustrated by Houtt. (l.c.).

Distribution: The sub-himalayan tract to the Indus, Burma, Assam, Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands.

The species is leafless when in flower. Fairly common in deciduous forests up to 1219 m.