Blume, an orthographic variant often still used in Vietnam, where the species was described[5]) is a plant now placed in the family Hypericaceae.

[3] In Vietnamese C. cochinchinense is usually called thành ngạch nam[5] or lành ngạnh nam, other names include: hoàng ngưu mộc, hoàng ngưu trà and đỏ ngọn.

The brown bark is smooth to flaky, with characteristic lateral pegs which are the remnants of previous leaf clusters (see illustration); leaf undersides are glaucous.

[5] The flowers are crimson red, which develop into seed capsules measuring up to 12 mm (0.5 in) long.

[3] Cratoxylum cochinchinense grows naturally from southern China to Borneo.