It produces dense, elegant whorls of leaves, which are thick, leathery, elliptical and covered in reddish brown fur when young (especially in winter).

It produces tiny hermaphroditic flowers - packed along its stems - and black berries which exude a white latex.

It shares its habitat with its sister-species, Sideroxylon cinereum ("Manglier vert"), a similar tree that can be distinguished by its more slender, divided trunks, and by the fact that its young leaves are hairless.

The tree was formerly abundant throughout Mauritius, but was widely exterminated due to demand for its wood, and it is now a protected species (listed as Vulnerable).

It is also beginning to be propagated in its native country of Mauritius, as an ornamental landscape tree for gardens and public spaces.