Cleistanthus andamanicus N.Balach., Gastmans & Chakrab. in Rheedea 20: 32, f. 1. 2010. Drypetes ovalis sensu N. Balach. & Gastmans in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 103: 140, 2006, pro parte, tantum quoad spec. cit. 'N. Balachandran 736', non (J.J.Sm.) Pax & K. Hoffm., 1922. Cleistanthus robustus sensu Sumathi, Jayanthi, Karthig. & D.Naras. in Rheedea 19: 70, f. 2. 2009, non Müll.Arg. 1866.

Shrubs, 3 – 4 m high; bark brown; branchlets brown, flattened and striate towards apices, terete below, 1 – 4 mm thick, glabrous. Leaves oblong, oblong-elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 5 – 15 x 2.5 – 7 cm, rounded, obtuse to subacute at base, slightly decurrent to petioles, entire along margins, acuminate (acumen 5 – 10 mm long) at apex, coriaceous, glabrous, remaining green above when dry, paler and often glaucescent beneath; midrib slightly raised above, raised beneath; lateral nerves slender, 4 – 7 per side, faint, arcuate, anastomosing near margins; tertiary nerves faint, laxly reticulate; nervules inconspicuous; petioles 3 – 8 x 1 – 2 mm, semiterete, rugose, glabrous; stipules linear-subulate, ca 5 mm long, deciduous. Male flowers: not seen. Female flowers: axillary or occasionally slightly supra-axillary, fasciculate or solitary, subsessile; calyx 2.5 – 4 mm long fulvous-pilose or sericeous outside, glabrous inside; tube shortly obconic, segments (sepals) 5, ovate-triangular or broadly triangular, 1.5 - 3 x 1 - 1.5 mm; petals 5, obovate, 2 – 3 x 1 – 1.5 mm, emarginate; ovary subglobose, ca 1.5 mm in diam., ochraceous-sericeous; styles 3, ca 1 mm long, bifid at apex. Fruits sessile to subsessile, somewhat depressed, ca 7 x 10 mm, 3-lobed, glabrous, dark brown when dry; seeds suborbicular or broadly ovoid-oblong, ca 5 x 4 mm, somewhat flattened, brown when dry.

Fl. & Fr. March – April.

Distrib. India: Deciduous and stunted evergreen forests up to 600 m altitude. Scarce. Andaman Islands.

Endemic.