Shrub or tree, to 10 m, functionally dioecious, branchlets densely soft-pubes-cent. Leaves alternate, lanceolate-elliptic, entire or sometimes sparsely dentate near the apices, acute to acute-mucronate, the bases obtuse to slightly oblique, to 20 cm long and 7 cm wide, roughly-pubescent, especially on the upper surface. Inflorescences cymes, ? paniculate, the tips scorpioid, terminal, ca 15 cm long, softly-pubescent. Flowers functionally unisexual, ? sessile. Staminate flowers with the calyx tubular, ca 4-5 mm long, ca 5-dentate, conspicuously ca 10-ribbed, pubescent; corolla white, the tube ca 4-5 mm long; the lobes oblong, ca 2-3 mm long and 1-1.2 mm wide; stamens 5, exserted, the filaments sparsely pubescent near the base, ca 4 mm long, the anthers ca 1.6-1.8 mm long; ovary reduced and abortive, the style absent. Pistillate flowers with the calyx tubular, ca 4-5 mm long, 4-5-dentate, weakly ribbed, pubescent; corolla white, the tube ca 4 mm long, the lobes oblong, ca 2 mm long and less than 1 mm wide; stamens ca 5, reduced and abortive, weakly exserted, the filaments ca 1 mm long, glabrous, the anthers ca 0.5 mm long; ovary ovoid, the style well-developed and exserted, the branches elongate, ca 4 mm long in late flowering. Fruit ellipsoidal, flesh, ca 7-9 mm long, the calyx persistent and saucer-shaped.
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