Habit : A small, glabrous tree with straight trunk, smooth, yellowish white bark, branchlets obtusely quadrangular.
Leaves : Broadly elliptic, acute acuminate or obtuse, bright green, glabrous, shining, one of the pair next the peduncle prominent, petiolate, stipules connate, short, broad, obtuse, membranous.
Flowers :
White in dense ovoid heads, peduncles solitary (rarely 2-3 together), usually leaf-opposed.
Calyx limb truncate.
Corolla infundibuliform, tube with hairy mouth, lobes 5 lanceolate, acute.
Stamens 5, filaments hairy, anthers about half exerted.
Fruit :
White when ripe, smooth, glossy, about a size of a small egg.
Pyrenes ovoid, compressed, concavo-convex, winged on the edge.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : March - September
Significance : The roots furnish a valuable red dye.
