The leaves are alternate, leathery, the edge is entire or toothed, ovate or oblong with an acute apex (tip) which ends in a mucro (sharp point).

The flowers are hermaphrodite and whitish yellow and arranged in terminal panicles 4–8 cm long.

In northern coastal habitats it is often associated with Aextoxicon punctatum, Beilschmiedia miersii, Cryptocarya alba, and Schinus latifolia.

In Los Bellotos del Melado National Reserve in the Andes it grows with Beilschmiedia berteroana, Cryptocarya alba, Nothofagus glauca, and Quillaja saponaria.

Subpopulations of the species are increasingly isolated from one another, with the longest distance between them 122 km (Fray Jorge National Park and Los Vilos).