Upright leptocaul trees, to 20 m; bole to 8 m; richly branched. Branches horizontal to down curved; internodes 6-24 by c. 1.2 cm, architecturally conforming to Champagnat’s Model. Leaves in loose whorls of 5-14, in upper half of internode; petioles to 1 cm, rounded below, flat above, slightly winged, not swollen at base; lamina flat, obovate-lanceolate, 16-33 by 5-12 cm, broadest at c. ⅔ of the length, chartaceous, base cuneate, margin asymmetrically crenulate, entire towards base, flat, apex shortly round-acuminate, above glossy green; midrib rounded, prominulous above, prominent beneath, primary veins 12-17 pairs, brochidodromous, prominulous but sunken above, prominent beneath, arising obliquely, curving, arched and united near margin, intercostal veins prominulous on both surfaces, reticulate. Cataphylls spathulate, 5-11 by 1-2.5 cm, base tapering, apex blunt and mucronate, rounded in larger cataphylls, abruptly transforming to leaves, caducous. Inflorescences lateral, arising from old leaf axils, often someway behind apex, sometimes solitary, usually in clusters of 2-3(-4), pendulous, rachis to 90 by 0.3 cm, thickening in fruit to 0.5 cm, glabrous, round, smooth to striate; bracts lanceolate, to 0.5 cm long, caducous. Flowers 25-40, pedicels characteristically upcurved when in bud, nodding when flowering, and ± lateral after flower has fallen, c. 1.5 by 0.6 cm, not articulate; buds spherical, apiculate to 1.2 cm diam., splitting circumscissily at their widest point, flower swelling to 16 mm, and often retaining caducous cap before finally opening; hypanthium conical, glabrous, c. 0.7 by 0.8 cm, arising abruptly from pedicels, without appendages; calyx papery, closed in bud, margin ± entire, flattened, but becoming cupuliform in fruit, to 1.5 cm diam., c. 0.5 cm high; petals 4, obovate, c. 22 by 15 cm, apex rounded, strongly dished, white; stamens 200-250, 40-50 by c. 0.5 mm, in c. 7 whorls, connate in the lower 2-3 mm, the innermost whorl fused to form a tube of c. 10 by 4 mm, at its apex fimbriate with staminodes to 20 mm overall, anthers round-ovate, c. 1 by 1 mm, 4-celled; disc to 8 mm diam., the raised annulus acute-topped, to 1.5 mm high, yellow; ovary 2-3-locular, but then with 3-4 septae basally, each locule with 2-4 ovules; style 55-58 by c. 1 mm, tapered; white, pink towards apex. Fruits narrow-cylindric when young, c. 8.5 by 2 cm, becoming thicker and oblong with age, to 9.5 by 4.5 cm, apex and base blunt; surface irregularly and thickly ribbed, apex puckered, with prominent and persistent calyx and style remains; dark green when young, becoming yellow when fully ripe and then falling. Embryo cylindric, to 7 by 2.5 cm, tapering to each end.
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