Coarse vines; stems glabrate to fuscous pilose. Leaves with leaflets broadly elliptic to obovate, 5-23 cm long, 3-13 cm wide, the apex acute or shortly acu-minate, usually glabrous except the primary veins, reticulate above, sparsely pubescent below, chartaceous, obtuse at the base, the laterals oblique, primary lateral veins in ca. 8 pairs; petioles pilose, the rachis 2-3 cm long, the stipels filamentous, 3-14 mm long; stipules lanceolate, to ca. 22 mm long, produced to ca. 10 mm below insertion, pilose without. Inflorescences stout, to ca. 45 cm long, flowering 1/2 the length, the tubercles clavate, the head elongation variable, the indumentum usually fuscous ferruginous, occasionally the buds nigrescent; bracts lanceolate, 10-20 mm long, ca. 3 mm wide, occasionally persistent, re-flexed, with appressed aureus-cinereous pubescence; bracteoles flabellate, 2-3 x 2-4 mm, fuscous puberulent without, persistent; pedicels 3-6 mm long. Flowers with straight buds, ca. 1.5-2.0 cm long; calyx tube ca. 7 mm long, carnose, fuscous ferruginous pubescent without, fuscous velutinous within, the upper ca-lyx lobes partially fused, emarginate, 2-5 mm long, ca. 7 mm wide, the laterals acute, ca. 5 mm long, the lower acute, ca. 6 mm long; standard rotund orbicular to obovate, carnose, glabrous, bicallose, ca. 15 mm long, the auricles semi-or-bicular, reflexed, the claw ca. 3 mm long, the wings obliquely oblong to obovate, ca. 10 mm long, the claw ca. 5 mm long, the keel triangulate, ca. 9 mm long, ca. 10 mm wide distally, weakly auriculate, the claw ca. 5 mm long, the upper margin undulate or with 1 prominent lobe, culminating in an obtuse beak; stamens 10, the vexillary and inner, alternate anthers of the staminal sheath imperfect, the perfect anthers ca. 1 mm long; ovary shortly stipitate, argenteous villous, 2-4 (-5)-ovulate, the upper style glabrous, ca. 6 mm long, the lower part bulbous. Fruits compressed, elliptic oblong, to ca. 17 x 5.5 x 2.4 cm, dehiscent, the pedicel attached medially, somewhat convex above, naviculate below, glabrate, the upper suture paralleled by thin wings, the lower margin swollen, sulcate; seeds (1-)2-4, semi-orbicular to oblong, ca. 30 x 25 x 14 mm, hard, dark brown, frequently maculate, the hilum encircling ca. 3/4 the testa.
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A woody creeper or liana. It grows 6 m long. The stem is 3 cm across. The leaves have 3 leaflets. The leaf stalks are 407 cm long. The leaflets are narrowly oval and broad at the base and taper to a short tip. They are 6-14 cm long by 4-9 cm wide. The flowers are in groups 30 cm long. They are purple. The fruit are fairly stiff long pods. They are 12-18 cm long by 5-6 cm wide. They are slightly constricted between the seeds. There are 2-3 dark brown seeds. They are a flattened round shape and about 3 cm across.
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