Belongs to the monotypic genus.

Dioecious trees or shrubs, fragrant resin. Leaves deciduous, grouped at the end of the branches, imparipinnate. Inflorescences axillary, dimorphic, the staminate in pedunculate dichasial cymes, the pistillate in sparsely flowered pseudoracemes or panicles. Pseudocapsule trilocular fruit, narrowly pyriform; three pyrenes.

Ambilobea differs from all Burseraceae by its winged petioles. Phylogenetically, it is within the Canarium clade (Thulin & al., 2008).