Shrub or much-branched tree to 22 m high; bole to 14 m high, d.b.h. 10-25 cm. Branchlets strongly angled or winged by decurrent leaf-scars, puberulous or tomentose. Leaves: rachis up to 30 cm, puberulous, with glands sessile or stipitate, flat or urceolate, elliptic or circular; pinnae (2-)3-14 pairs, puberulous, 2-15 cm long; leaflets 4-29 pairs per pinna, subsessile, opposite, chartaceous, drying dark (rarely glaucous beneath), unequal-sided, (ovate-)trapezoid to oblong, 0.35-11.5 by 0.15-4.5 cm, base asymmetrically cuneate, apex acuminate, both surfaces subglabrous, puberulous to velutinous or tomentose; lower surface with papillose epiderm, main vein diagonal, number of principal lateral veins very variable, reticulation very lax, prominulous on both surfaces. Inflorescences terminal, puberulous or tomentose, consisting of pedunculate umbels or corymbs aggregated into panicles to more than 30 cm long; umbels or corymbs of c. 10 flowers, pedicel 1-4.5 mm, puberulous; floral bracts puberulous to tomentose. Flowers pentamerous, bisexual. Calyx light green, cup-shaped, campanulate or funnel-shaped, 1-c. 3 mm, puberulous to sericeous; teeth triangular, acute, minute. Corolla creamy white or yellow, funnel-shaped or campanulate, 4-11 mm, puberulous or sericeous; lobes ovate or lanceolate, acute, 2-3 mm. Stamens creamy white or yellow, to c. 13 mm; the tube equalling the corolla-tube. Ovary solitary, puberulous or sericeous. Pod orange-yellowish outside, reddish inside, flattened, spirally twisted, somewhat sinuate between the seeds, chartaceous^ subcoriaceous), to 20 cm by 1 cm, puberulous or tomentose, veins inconspicuous, dehiscing along the ventral suture and partly along the dorsal suture. Seeds black, ovoid to ellipsoid, 6-10 by 6-9 by 6-7 mm.
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