Melicope paniculata is a tree in the Rutaceae (rue) family, up to 11 m (35 ft) tall, with new growth sparsely minutely puberulent (covered in soft, downy hairs), becoming glabrate (smooth) with young branches reddish brown. Leaves are opposite, thin, leathery, elliptic or broadly elliptic, with strongly revolute (rolled backward from the tip or margins to the undersurface) margins, and up to 25 cm (10 in) long. The leaves are dark, glossy green on top and paler green below. Male or female flowers are born in cymose (determinate simple inflorescence) panicles up to 25 cm (10 in) long, and the cuboid fruit are anise-scented.