Melicope puberula is a shrub or small tree in the Rutaceae (rue) family, 3 to 10 m (10 to 33 ft) tall with new growth densely covered in yellowish-brown pubescence. Leaves are opposite, leathery, and elliptic, 6 to 17 cm (2.4 to 6.7 in) long, with the upper surface glabrous and the lower surface slightly pubescent. Flowers are 5, on tomentose axillary cymes. Capsules are dark red, 14 to 20 mm (0.6 to 0.8 in) wide with 1 to 2 seeds per carpel.