Nageia are evergreen woody plants that usually grow as trees but may also rarely be shrubs, varying in height from one to 54 meters.

[7][8] The leaf petioles are frequently twisted so the leaves form a flat plane around the shoot.

[7] Depending on the species, as the cone matures, the sterile scales may fuse and become fleshy as in the closely related Podocarpus or they may wither.

[7][8] A part of the cone scale supporting the ovule develops into a drupe-like fleshy covering known as the epimatium.

Nageia can be found in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests of Asia and Australasia, from Assam in eastern India across Southeast Asia to southern China and southern Japan, and across Malesia, from the Malay Peninsula across Indonesia to New Guinea and New Britain.

[2] An outpost of N. wallichiana is found in the South Western Ghats montane rain forests of southern India, where it is thought to be a relatively recent colonist in biogeographical terms.

[10][11] N. fleuryi (Hickel) de Laubenfels N. motleyi (Parlatore) de Laubenfels N. wallichiana (Presl) Kuntze N. nagi (Thunberg) Kuntze (Asian bayberry) N. formosensis (Dümmer) Page N. nankoensis (Hayata) Mill The genus contains six species:[2][7] moved to other genera: Acmopyle Afrocarpus Amentotaxus Cephalotaxus Dacrycarpus Dacrydium Falcatifolium Madhuca Parasitaxus Podocarpus Prumnopitys Putranjiva (Putranjivaceae) Retrophyllum Sundacarpus