[3] The trees reach to 35 metres (115 ft) tall, though they rarely achieve the size required for timber exploitation.

The two are differentiated by the nominate subspecies being totally glabrous, with leaves that are elliptic to oblong, rarely lanceolate and the anther connective not being glandular.

[5] Cratoxylum formosum is a tropical plant found in the Andaman Islands, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

They inhabit primary and secondary forests at altitudes from 0–600 m, with the upper limit to 1200 m, on slopes, river margins and swamps in sandy to clayey soils.

[5] Cratoxylum formosum is listed as least concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature,[1] but it is considered to be rare in Singapore.