Tree up to 36 m, girth up to 3 m; buttresses broad, steep, to 60 cm out and to 3 m high, or narrow, plank-like and equal. Bark white, grey, pale, dark or reddish-brown, firmly fibrous, smooth or fissured and pitted, with scales either adherent or sloughing in medium-sized pieces which leave scroll marks on the bole; sapwood hard or soft, pale reddish-brown, reddish-brown, deep red or yellowish-brown; sometimes with white latex. Twigs stout, densely covered with small orange, orange-brown or pale brown peltate scales which have a fimbriate margin and often have a dark central spot, sometimes with a few darker scales interspersed. Leaves up to 82 cm long and 55 cm wide; petiole 10–22 cm, petiole, rachis and petiolules densely covered with scales like those on the twigs. Leaflets 7–15, 9.5–30 by 4–10.5 cm, pale brown when dry, acuminate or rounded at the apex, cuneate or rounded at the sometimes markedly asymmetrical base, with numerous scales like those on the twigs on the midrib below and scattered on the rest of the lower leaflet surface, sometimes with numerous pale scales which are vis-ible with the naked eye on dried specimens and a few brown scales like those on the twigs; veins 6–20 on each side of the midrib; petiolules 5–20(–25) mm. Inflorescence 26–42 cm long, c. 24 cm wide; peduncle 1.5–19 cm, peduncle, rachis and branches with numerous scales like those on the twigs. Flower 2.5 mm long, 2 mm wide; sessile or with a pedicel up to 0.5 mm. Calyx densely covered on the outside with brown scales like those on the twigs. Petals 3, with some stellate scales on the outside. Staminal tube c. 2 mm long, subglobose, anthers 6, about 2/3 the length of the tube and just protrud-ing. Infructescence c. 20 cm long and 7 cm wide; peduncle c. 7 cm, the peduncle, rachis and branches densely covered with pale and reddish-brown scales which have a fimbri-ate margin. Fruits up to 8 by 2.5–5.5 cm, subglobose or obovoid, orange or brown, dehiscent, densely covered on the outside with scales like those on the twigs; fruit-stalk 1–4 cm. Locules 3, each containing 0 or 1 seed; aril white.
Dense, primary lowland and hill forest; more open, secondary formations; often found on occasionally inundated soils and also on well-drained soils; on peats, clays and corals; at elevations up to 1,300 metres.
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