Columnar trees (sometimes multi-stemmed), bark dark grey to black, rough and friable, checkered fissuring. Roots thick knee-like pneumatophores_Goaqiao, south-western China.
Flower to mature propagule stage : Calyx reddish with 12 to 14 lobes, petals to 15 mm long, 2-lobed, stamens enclosed in pairs by the petals. Hypocotyl emergent from calyx during maturation, hypocotyl cigar-shaped, terete, elongate, green, to 11-25 cm L. and 1-2 cm W.