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A shrub or small tree. It can grow 18 m tall. It loses its leaves during the year. The bark is grey and scaly. The small branches are slender. The leaves are opposite. The leaf blade is 2-9 cm long by 1-5 cm wide. They are papery. They are oval and blunt at the tip and wedge shaped at the base. There are 3-5 pairs of side veins. The flowers are pale yellow. The flowers are in spikes in the axils of fallen leaves. The fruit is green and 3.5 cm across.
Leaves opposite; lamina 2–9(10) x 0·7—4·5 cm., papyraceous to chartaceous, narrowly elliptic to ovate or obovate, rather inconspicuously lepidote and verruculose above otherwise nearly glabrous except for tufts of hairs in the axils of the lateral nerves beneath, somewhat shiny above, apex rather blunt to rounded sometimes somewhat acuminate, base cuneate to rounded; lateral nerves 3–5 pairs; petiole 2–8(10) mm. long, slender.
Lower receptacle 1–1·5 mm. long, glutinous, glabrous; upper receptacle 2–2·5 x 2·5–3 mm., broadly infundibuliform, glutinous, rather inconspicuously lepidote otherwise glabrous, crenulated to form 4 pouch-like swellings alternating with the petals and in the position of the sepals which are otherwise scarcely developed.
Inflorescences of short almost sessile glutinous lateral spikes, sometimes branched or fasciculate, often appearing in the axils of fallen leaves with very young leaves of the current season; rhachis sometimes up to 3–4 cm. long in fruit; bracts minute, caducous.
Fruit green, up to 3·5 cm. in diam., subcircular in outline, glutinous when young, rather inconspicuously lepidote otherwise glabrous, apical peg absent or very short, wings up to 1·2 cm. broad and rather thin, stipe up to 1·8 cm. long, slender.
Scales whitish-to reddish-translucent, 45–75µ in diam., rather sparse to frequent, circular; cells delimited by 8(12) radial walls and also by tangential and extra radial walls; marginal cells (8)10–16.
Deciduous shrub or small tree up to 18 m. high (occasionally described as scandent); bark grey, scaly; branchlets slender, usually pale, glabrous or slightly pubescent and soon glabrescent.
Petals 1·6–2 x 1·8 mm., broadly ovate to subcircular, glabrous, shortly unguiculate.
Cotyledons 2, arising above soil level; petioles 4–5 mm. long.
Stamen-filaments 3—4·5 mm. long; anthers 0·6 mm. long.
Style 5 mm. long, slightly expanded at the apex.
Disk glabrous, margin scarcely produced.
Flowers pale-yellow.
