Tree, 10-15 m tall; glabrous throughout except young parts, inflorescence and ovary slightly pubescent; bark brown or light brown, rough, with longitudinal grooves. Branchlets with small and dense lenticels. Leaves 12-25 cm long; petiole 1.5-3 cm long; stipules caducous; leaflets (3-)4-5(-6) pairs, subleathery, ovate or elliptic, (2.5)4-7(-9) cm long, 2-3.5 cm wide, the apical leaflet of the compound leaf is the largest, diminishing in size downward, and the basal pair is only 1/3 the length of the apical leaflet, with an acuminate or acute, obtuse head, and a rounded or broadly cuneate base. cuneate; petiolules 3-5 mm long. Panicles axillary, 8-10 cm long, 6-7 cm in diameter, branched in corymbiform inflorescences; involucral pedicels 3-5 cm long; basal bracteoles subtriangular, 0.5 mm long, epicalyxiform bracteoles broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm long; flowers ca. 5 mm long, at first crowded at apices of inflorescence branches, then gradually sparse; pedicels ca. 1 mm long; calyx ca. 2 mm long, with one calyx tooth longer below, lanceolate, and the rest broadly ovate, acute; flowers broadly ovate, acute; corolla creamy white or yellowish, each petal subequal, all with a petiole ca. 1 mm, flag petal obcordate, with a petiole ca. 5 mm, ca. 3 mm wide distally, apex truncate, retuse, winged petals oblong, keeled petals semilunar, dorsally curved arched; stamens 9, simple; ovary narrowly ellipsoid, long-stalked, stipe ca. 2.5 mm, with 1-2 ovules. Pod ligulate-oblong, 4.5-8 cm long, 1.5-1.8 cm wide, base slightly hairy, tip obtuse or acute, base abruptly narrowed to join the slender neck of the fruit, which is 5-10 mm long, with leathery petals, the part of the fruit that is distinctly raised to the seed, like a chess piece, up to 5 mm thick, with 1(-2) seeds.

Huanghuali is a deciduous tree, tree height 10 ~ 25 meters, the maximum diameter at breast height of more than 60cm, the crown broad umbrella-shaped, lower branches, more branches, lateral branches thick, bark light gray-yellow. Oddly pinnately compound leaves, 15 ～ 26 cm long, ovate or elliptic; flowers yellowish or creamy white, flowering from April to June; pods ligulate, long elliptic, flattened, October to January of the following year for the seed maturity. In the "Materia Medica Gleanings": "Flowering palm trees out of Hainan, used as beds, like rosewood and color red, sex firm and good." Ge Gu Yao Lun": "flower pear out of Nanfan Guangdong, purple-red, similar to the descending incense, but also incense. Its flowers have ghost face is lovely, flower coarse and pale low." Qing publication of "nested qiongzhou prefectural records - products - wood": "pear wood, purple-red, similar to the descending true incense, there is a slight aroma, produced in the mountains of Li." Nowadays people think that the pear wood is "Hainan sandalwood", and someone else named "descending yellow sandalwood". Guangzhou Botanical Journal: "Hainan Island specialties ...... for forest plants, like born in the valley shady place, wood is quite good, sapwood color, quality slightly loose, heartwood color reddish-brown, hard, texture exquisite and beautiful, suitable for carving and furniture.

Hainan huanghuali according to the region is roughly divided into two categories: grow in the east of hainan is customarily called "chaff pear", lighter color, specific gravity is poor, poor oil, good texture. Mainly light yellow, golden yellow, light brown, reddish brown as the main color. Mainly produced in Hainan Sanya and Haikou and other places. And grow in the west called "oil pear", the color is mainly dark brown, purple, black. Mainly produced in hainan changjiang, ledong, baisa and other places. Between oil pear and chaff pear from the color, aroma, grain, texture has its own characteristics, depending on the collector's preference. Oil pear and chafing pear is not a measure of sea yellow good or bad standard.

Hainan huanghuali tree more than 10 years will blossom and bear fruit, 10 years of the diameter of the majority of not more than 10 centimeters, in recent years, the artificial forest more hanging nutrient bags to trees "infusion", but the heartwood (oil frame part) is about 3 centimeters, some even no oil frame. Hainan many plug wood, buy back the whole wood, a little heartwood are not. Sea yellow frame is generally 10 years after the start of the long frame, growth began to slow, the longer the slower.

Since Hainan Huanghuali nearly extinct, Hainan Huanghuali can be more than gold, in the market need to fake Huanghuali timber, a business in the trend of interest, the use of consumer awareness of Hainan Huanghuali insufficient, often take some other timber to pretend to be Hainan Huanghuali, common several kinds of fake Hainan Huanghuali timber are: Vietnam Huanghuali, Asian rosewood, African rosewood, Americas Pear, Myanmar pear, Laos pear, Brazilian pear, etc., although the name of these kinds of wood and huanghuali dipped, but are not the real Hainan huanghuali.