Trees 6-20 m tall, d.b.h. 30-60 cm. Bark gray, deeply fissured. Stipules often reddish, ca. 4 cm, interpetiolar, caducous. Petiole 2-4.5 cm; leaf blade elliptic-oblong, 8-21 × 4-7(-9) cm, leathery, glabrous, base cuneate to rarely obtuse, apex acute. Pedicel 1-2.5 cm. Flowers in axils of upper leaves, solitary, red or pinkish-red, ca. 3 cm.

Calyx lobes 10-14, linear, 1.5-2 cm, glabrous. Petals 12-14, 1.3-1.5 cm, outer margin fringed with white silky hairs; sinus bristles 3 or 4 per petal, 2-3 mm, distinctly exceeding petals. Stamens twice as many as petals, 8-11 mm; filaments filiform; anthers linear to lanceolate, 4-5 mm. Disk cup-shaped. Ovary inferior, 3-locule; style filiform, ca. 1.5 cm; stigma lobes 3 or 4. Fruit adnate to calyx tube, ca. 2.5 mm; persistent calyx on fruit or hypocotyls ribbed only apically. Seed 1, viviparous. Hypocotyl cigar-shaped, slightly angular, 15-25 × 1.5-2 cm. Fl. May-Jun. 2n = 26.