Large trees to shrubs. Buttresses absent. Spines absent. Stilt roots absent. Bark brown, black; peeling in strips. Slash yellow, red. Vertical stripes in the inner bark or wood absent. Odor aromatic. Exudate absent. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.
Complex hairs present, or absent; star-like. Stinging hairs absent. Mature twig indumentum present, or absent; sparse.
Leaves two-ranked; not scale-like; simple; all of the same type; not modified into spines; coriaceous; gland-dotted, or not gland-dotted; very asymmetric at the base, or symmetric at the base; not dissected; smooth margined. Epidermis not waxy. Venation pinnate. Secondary veins open; prominent, or not prominent, but visible. Smallest veins prominent, or not prominent, but visible; net like, or ladder like. Intramarginal vein present, or absent. Stalk of blade less than a quarter the length of the blade; not winged; attached to base of leaf blade; not swollen. Stipules absent. Domatia absent. Basal glands absent. Hairs on mature leaf present, or absent; dense, or sparse.
Inflorescences present, or represented by solitary flowers only; axillary, or leaf-opposed, or on the trunk or branches (Cyathocalyx biovulatus); the flowers from a single point on the stem; specialized inflorescence units absent; numerous and persistent inflor