Large woody climber. Leaves with petiole swollen and geniculate at base, swollen at apex; lamina ± ovate, entire, palmatinerved at base. Inflorescences borne on old, leafless stems, paniculate. Male flowers: sepals 12 in 4 whorls of 3, the outermost whorls minute, the inner 2 whorls much larger and subequal; petals 6; stamens 6 with broad flattened filaments much broader than the small anthers. Female inflorescences and flowers unknown. Infructescences paniculate, borne on old leafless stems, carpophores very short. Drupes large; endocarp bony, densely covered with branched spines partly joined in longitudinal rows; condyle deeply intrusive into the seed-cavity and containing a hollow chamber subdivided by a thin median wall; seed deeply concave, curved around the intrusive condyle, with abundant endosperm, cotyledons very broad, radicle very short.
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