The evergreen shrub has soft wood, small pink or yellow flowers, and produces cavate brown fruit throughout the period March to April.

[4] Its former genus, Pisonia, is named after a Dutch scientist, Willem Piso, and umbellifera is derived from Latin umbelliferum, denoting the species' big, 'shade-carrying' foliage.

[3] It is native to the Andaman Islands, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Hawaii, Africa and Madagascar and the states of New South Wales and Queensland in Australia.

Other variegated varieties exist (Ceodes umbellifera 'Variegata') with marbling of white, light and dark green on the shrub's leaves.

[3] These branch out at the apex, forming what botanist Debasmita Pramanick describes as ‘loose umbel[s] or contrated panicle[s]’[3] to spawn 3-8 flowers.

[3] The flowers consist of small pink or yellow petals in a rounded funnel formation, with short white stems protruding from the centre.

The plant's perianth is campanulate, or ‘bell-shaped’, described by Pramanick as having ‘reflexed triangular 5-lobes' and ‘short brown hairs’.

[3] Ceodes umbellifera is distinguished from similar taxa, such as Pisonia sechellarum, by reflexed ‘perianth lobes of the pistillate flowers’[17] and inconspicuous anthrocarpal glands.

[12] A 2018 study assessing anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic properties of Ceodes umbellifera discovered 12 new compounds in the plant's stem.

[4] It is likely that, as Elson Felipe Rossetto and Marcos Caraballo suggest, Du Petit-Thouars was not aware of the description and categorisation of Ceodes "28 years earlier".

[23] Calpidia and Pisonia were distinguished by "the absence of bracteoles, having a reduced perisperm that forms gelatinous traces and starch accumulation in the embryo".

[17] Several morphological traits were omitted from this classification, such as "the absence of bracts and bracteoles at the upper portion of the pedicels, presence of starch in the embryo and number of apertures in pollen grains".

[4] In 2019, a study by Rossetto and colleagues used the molecular data of the species' DNA to reveal that the Pisonia genus was non-monophyletic.

The plant is native to Australia, Southern China, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii and many Polynesian islands.

[5] In Hawaii, the species will be found in areas receiving "50-100 inches" of rainfall annually and in regions between "150-1999" feet above sea level.

[14] Moderate amounts of sunlight are needed, with most growing instructions designating part shade or full sun.

When grown as an indoor plant, gardeners suggest "four hours of direct sunlight ... bright light the rest of the time".

Scientists in the Goldsborough Valley, south of Cairns in Queensland, Australia, discovered a female Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher who was "completely immobilised, unable even to flap her wings".

[28] Since Ceodes umbellifera is widespread on tropical island rainforests, it is plausible that when the plant "traps and kills animals" it is "creating pockets of nutrients in the immediate soil environment for seedlings".

Some credible sources[3][29] state that the soft wood of the tree is sometimes broken open by elephants, who drink the sap ‘with relish’,[3] and also that sheep will eat it and ‘get over their teeth a golden colour and appeared just like gold’.

During 1992 and 1993, some of the Ceodes umbellifera plants on Cabbage Tree Island were subject to herbicide poisoning, in an attempt to reduce the threat to Gould's Petrels and improve their endangerment status.

Leaves of Ceodes umbellifera is used as a general purpose medicine for digestive issues and childhood disease.

[18] Further, Melensian ‘market-gardeners’[18] will reportedly bury Ceodes umbellifera leaves amongst the soil to prevent phytophage nematodes in crops.

[12] Another study aimed to ascertain the anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities of compounds found in the plant's stems, with no notable results.

This mixture would then be used to join broken parts or fill holes, left to dry and then smoothed with a pumice stone.

[10]  Additionally, it is used by indigenous men to catch birds, from which the feathers are plucked and used for traditional garments, called ‘ahu’ula.