Shrub or tree; bark smooth, pale purplish, branches drooping, pubescent or glabrous. Leaves ovate, elliptic oblong or elliptic, 10-20 x 5-10 cm, base obtuse rounded or acute, rarely unequal, acute or acuminate at the apex or sinuate, membranous, sub-coriaceous with 10-16 pairs of lateral nerves, glabrous or somewhat pubescent beneath, dark green above, paler beneath, subsessile or sessile, petiole c. 2 mm long. Inflorescence a terminal, corymbose, many flowered cymes, 7-15 cm across, pedicel variable in length, upto 1.25 cm long, bracts small, linear acute, pubescent or ciliate, c. 2.5 cm long. Flower white or creamy 2.5-5 cm across, puberulous. Calyx 2-3.5 mm long, divided nearly to the base, lobes unequal, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, pubescent ciliate. Corolla tube selender, puberulous outside, hairy within, 8-12 mm long, lobes equalling the tube, oblong, rounded, overlapping to the right in bud. Style short, stigma oblong. Follicle, 20-40 x 0.5-1 cm, pendulous, glabrous, often slightly curved and dotted. Seeds c. 1.25 cm long, linear oblong, light brown, minutely rugose.

Fl.Per.: May-June.

Type: Burma, Ava, Canoungaklay, Buchanan-Hamilton s.n. (BM-Lectotype).

Distribution: Tropical Himalayas. from Chenab westward, ascending to 3,500 ft throughout India, Travencore, Malacca, Pakistan (Punjab) and Kashmir.

The leaves, bark and seeds are used medicinally for dysentry. Wood is white, soft and even grained, used for carving, turning and for light furnitures.