Trees 4-20 m tall, 5-25 cm d.b.h.; trunk often somewhat twisted, the bark smooth, with fine, granular lenticels which wipe off easily, the inner bark thin, tan, the sap with a faint, pleasant aroma; stems densely lenticellate, the younger parts, including petioles and inflorescence branches, densely brown-tomentose. Leaves pinnately 3-11-foliolate (juvenile plants often with some large simple leaves); petioles to 6 cm long, to 15 cm on juvenile leaves; blades oblong-elliptic to obovate, obtuse to truncate and sometimes emarginate at the apex, obtuse to acute and inequilateral at the base, 8-20 cm long, 2-6.5 cm wide, to 35 cm long and 15 cm wide on juvenile leaves, densely short-pubescent to glabrate on the veins above, usually papillate and glabrous to sparsely pubescent and with inconspicu-ous stalked glands beneath, the margin obscurely crenate to wavy. Panicles axil-lary or subterminal, to ca. 2.5 cm long. Flowers white, 2-2.7 mm long; sepals ovate to oblong, tomentose; petals villous, obovate, rounded or emarginate at the apex, the margin fringed, the scale fused to the margins of the petals, deeply divided in the middle; disc thick, bowl shaped, weakly lobed, densely velutinous except on the inner margin; stamens villous below the middle; staminate flowers with the stamens to 3.5 mm long, exserted, the pistillode with 3 minute styles; bisexual flowers with the stamens ca. 1.5 mm long, the ovary ovoid, tomentose, gradually tapered to a stout style, the style and stigma pubescent, together about equalling the ovary, the stigmas 3, ca. 1.5 mm long, divergent. Capsules subglobose to 3-lobed, shortly stipitate, to ca. 2.5 cm diam. at maturity, on drying greatly shrink-ing and becoming more prominently 3-lobed, the valves to ca. 3 mm thick on dried specimens, woody, densely dark brown tomentose outside, woolly inside; seeds ovoid, black, shiny, 1.5 cm long and 1 cm wide, enveloped at the base with an orange yellow aril.
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