Tree up to 20 m tall. Leaves elliptic-ovate to broadly lanceolate, coriaceous, 4-12 x l.6-5.5 cm, entire to spiny toothed, acute or obtuse; nerves 9-12 pairs, forked at the extremities, both surfaces green, glabrous, glaucous, base often oblique; petiole 0.3-l cm long, glabrous. Male flowers in lax catkins, up to 5 cm long; bract lanceolate, c. l.5 mm long, shorter than the perianth, tomentose; stamens 4-8, sub-sessile; anthers glabrous. Styles 3-5. Cupule 2-2.4 cm broad, covering half the nut, pubescent. Nut ovoid, brownish, glabrescent, tipped with an umbo.