Antidesma tomentosum Blume, Catalogus 109. 1823 as 'tomentosa' & Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 1126. 1827. A. persimile Kurz in Trimen, J. Bot. 13: 330. 1875 & in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. 2, Nat. Hist. 45(3): 147. 1876; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 365. 1887 (as 'perserrula').

Shrubs or trees, 2 - 5 m tall; branchlets reddish tomentellous. Leaves oblong-elliptic or narrowly so to ovate-oblong, rounded, subacute or unequal at base, caudate at apex, 15 - 30 x 5 – 11 (-15) cm, coriaceous, glossy, glabrous above, tomentellous or pilose on nerves beneath; lateral nerves 10 - 15 pairs; petioles 5 - 12 mm long; stipules linear or narrowly subulate, 5 - 20 x 2 - 4 mm. Male inflorescences axillary, simple, 10 - 20 cm long, spicate; rachis tomentellous; bracts narrowly elliptic, ca 1 mm long; flowers dense, sessile; calyx ca 1 x 1.8 mm; lobes 4 or 5, suborbicular; disc annular, with a stipe, pilose along margins; stamens 3 - 5, unequal, 1.2 - 2 mm long; anther-thecae ca 0.5 mm across; pistillode subglobose. Female flowers: axillary, simple or rarely branched, 10 – 30 cm long; rachis ferruginous-pubescent. Flowers sessile, ca 1.5 mm long; bracts deltoid, ca 1.5 mm long; calyx ca 1 mm long, lobes 5, free; lobes 4 or 5, ovary densely appressed-pubescent; stigmas 3 - 8. Infructescences in axils of fallen leaves, simple, 15 - 20 cm long, pendulous. Fruits sessile (also pedicelled in extra-Indian examples), obliquely ovoid, compressed, 10 - 13 x 6 - 8 mm, ribbed, appressed puberulous; style terminal or subterminal; calyx patelliform, ca 2 mm across, 4-lobed with deltoid and ca 0.5 mm long lobes.

Fl. & Fr. Apr. - Nov.

Distrib. India: Common in mixed forests, littoral forests, inland forests, often near streams, on rocky loam at low altitudes. Nicobar Islands.

Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Celebes.