A fairly common, tall tree, mostly of secondary formations but occasionally a gap species in high forest, to 33 m high and 100 cm Ø. Stem straight with hardly any root swellings; the crown dense and globular. The bark of younger trees is smooth and grey but may turn rough with a thick layer of dead tissue on older trees. Slash fairly thick, nearly white or yellowish, soft and fibrous, bitter. The wood is soft and white. Leaves impar-pinnate, with (sub)opposite leaflets; leaflets with rounded or emarginate apex, ± 8 pairs of indistinct laterals; venation faint. Fruits formed by 1 – 5 ellipsoid drupes on a common stalk, ± 2 x 1.5 cm, purplish black, with a fleshy layer of about 2 mm thick around a single, woody endocarp, containing one seed that loosely fits, which makes the fruit buoyant. Saplings long and slender, unbranched with a dense terminal tuft of very long leaves. See also PROTA database (as Quassia undulata). Syn.: Quassia undulata forma silvestris