Deciduous trees, to 30 m high, bark 6-8 mm thick, greyish or greyish-white, smooth, peeling off in thin long and broad flakes; blaze creamy yellow, outer parts brittle, inner layers fibrous; branches knotted. Leaves simple, opposite, distichous, stipulate; stipules 2, intrapetiolar, deciduous; petiole 6-15 mm long, slender, glabrous; lamina 4.5-10 x 3.7-6.5 cm, elliptic, ovate, elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, base attenuate or acute, apex acute or acuminate, margin entire, glabrous and shining above, velvety pubescent beneath, chartaceous; lateral nerves 6-10 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae scalariform, faint. Flowers bisexual, 5-6 mm across, white, in axillary and terminal panicles; calyx smooth, hoary, without a ring; lobes 6, triangular, persistent, reflexed; petals 6, 3 mm long, obovate, white, clawed; stamens numerous, inserted at the base of calyx tube; filaments long, exserted; ovary half inferior, sessile, glabrous, 4-6-celled, ovules many; style long, curved; stigma capitate. Fruit a capsule, 8-12 mm long, ovoid, 4-6 valved, dehiscent; seeds many, elongate, falcately winged, brownish.

• Malayalam-Venthekku

• Traditionally used to lower blood sugar in the body.
• Its high content of corosolic acid makes it an effective anti-diabetic drug.