Unbranched or sparingly branched shrub or tree up to 10 m tall, latex white. Leaf twigs 10-15 mm thick, white puberulous to subglabrous, solid or hollow; periderm flaking off. Leaves spirally arranged; lamina elliptic, 40-90 by 25-60 cm, symmetric, (sub)coriaceous (brittle when dry), apex shortly acuminate, base cordate, margin sinuate to sublobate; upper surface glabrous or hispidulous, smooth or ± scabrous, lower surface white puberulous to hirtellous to subtomentose or hispidulous, smooth or ± scabrous; cystoliths only beneath; lateral veins 8-12 pairs, basal pair branched, the other lateral veins often branched or furcate far from the margin, tertiary venation scalariform; waxy glands in the axils of the basal lateral veins and in the axils of branches or furcations of the lateral veins; petiole 4-23 cm long, glabrous, white puberulous to hirtellous to substrigose, the epidermis flaking off; stipules 10-30 cm long, glabrous or white hirtellous to substrigose to subsericeous, caducous (or subpersistent on fig-bearing branchlets). Figs axillary and solitary or ramiflorous on stout unbranched up to 30 cm long leafless branchlets (with short internodes, prominent scars of the fig peduncles and at the top a cluster of subpersistent up to 8 cm long stipules), subsessile or with a peduncle up to 1 cm long; basal bracts indistinct, passing into the lateral bracts; receptacle obovoid to ellipsoid to subglobose, 4-8 cm diam. when dry, 6-13 cm diam. when fresh, subglabrous, with numerous red or yellow coriaceous lateral bracts, varying from narrowly to broadly ovate and up to 6 cm long or semicircular and up to 7 cm broad and up to 3.5 cm long, at maturity red (or purple brown), apex ± convex, ostiole c. 10 mm diam., prominent, surrounded by erect apical bracts, wall thick and with projections into the fig cavity; internal hairs absent.
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A fig tree. It grows to 9-13 m high. The large young leaves are eaten. The branches are strong and flexible and contain a milky juice. The tree has a single trunk without buttresses or aerial roots. It is often straggling. Seedling trees vary considerably in size of leaves and colour of young leaves and veins. The leaves are large. They can be 60-100 cm long. They are deeply corrugated with veins. The veins can be red or yellow. The fruit is large (15 cm across) and made up of large overlapping scale leaves. It ripens to a deep purple.
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