Medium to large evergreen tree, latex milky. Bark smooth, grey and brown. Stem straight branching horizontally. Young branches with dense brownish hairs. Leaves alternate or spiralled, crowded toward branchlet ends, leathery, glossy greyish green and hairless above, under surface densely covered with silvery hairs often tinged with brown, usually with pointed tips, tightly folded upward along the midrib when young, margin slightly wavy. Flowers white to cream, about 5 mm long, without stalks, solitary or in groups of 2 or 3 in the axils of the leaves (Nov.-Mar.). Fruit a red acorn-shaped berry.

A related and similar speciesEnglerophytum magalismontanum [= Bequaertiodendron magalismontanum ], a small to medium-sized evergreen tree, has elliptic to narrowly obovate, dark green leaves usually densely covered with reddish brown to silvery hairs below and with rounded tips, and with flowers usually on short stalks and in compact clusters on young and old wood. Manilkara discolor can be confused with E. natalense but it is usually a bigger tree with rough bark, often growing in drier situations, and its leaf tips are usually more rounded.