Euclea divinorum is an evergreen shrub or small tree, up to 9 m high, with male and female flowers on separate plants. It is single or multi-stemmed, with a rounded crown. Young stems are smooth and pale grey with rusty granules. The bark is grey-brown to black, rough, and cracked longitudinally.

The leaves are opposite or sub-opposite, alternate, broadest at or below the middle, 35-90 × 10-40 mm, tapering to the bases and apices, hard, leathery, hairless, shiny, grey- to olive-green, with the midribs raised below and margins conspicuously wavy. Leaf stalks are about 6 mm long.

Flowers are small, white to creamy-yellow, scented, and borne on short, dense branched sprays to 15 mm wide from axils of leaves. Stalks are covered in reddish-brown granules. Euclea divinorum flowers from August to December. It can be confused with E. undulata, but the magic guarri has larger leaves and fruits, with a denser inflorescence. Euclea crispa has leaves that are broad in the middle, hairy branchlets and one inflorescence per leaf axil.

The fruit is round, purplish black, about 5-7 mm in diameter, single-seeded and fleshy.