Shrub to tree, 1-18.5 m high, dbh 3 cm to 1.3 m; outer bark smooth, grey-brown to grey-white, inner bark pink to pale brown; sap wood white to light yellow. Branchlets usually brown sericeous when young; flowering twigs 1.5-25 mm thick. Leaves 1-9-jugate; rachis 2.3-33.5 cm long, terete to upwards flattened above, glabrous to subseri-ceous, petiole 1.4-13.5 cm long; petiolules 0-0.9 cm long. Leaflets opposite to alternate, (ovate to) elliptic, 2.3-24.3 by 0.8-7.8 cm, index (l.l-)2.5-5.9, (slightly) especially basally asymmetrical, the acroscopic side broader, coriaceous, usually punc¬tate; base attenuate; margin entire (to crenate), flat (to revolute); apex (obtuse to) acuminate to cuspi¬date (to caudate), usually not mucronulate; upper surface usually glabrous to slightly sericeous; lower surface duller, smooth (to papillate), glabrous (to slightly sericeous to subvillose), domatia (0 or 1 to) many small sacs (to pockets), in axils of nerves; venation on upper surface (slightly sunken to) flat to raised, raised on lower side; nerves 0.2-3.7 cm apart, marginally looped and joined, (less distinct¬ly so in lower part of leaflets); veins laxly reticu¬late, usually indistinct. Inflorescences (ramiflorous to) axillary (to pseudoterminal), (unbranched to) branching basally and along the terete to slightly flattened, subsericeous (to subhirsute), 0.4-18 cm long axis; first order branches up to 9 cm long; cymules cincinnate (to dichasial), 2-6-flowered; bracts and bracteoles deltate to triangular, outside sericeous, inside (sub)glabrous; bracts 0.5-2 mm long; bracteoles 0.2-0.9 mm long; pedicels 1.8-7.37.3 mm long, completely sericeous. Flowers 3-4.5 mm in diam., without scent. Sepals 5, ovate, mar¬gin and sometimes outside pilose, margin with glands, inside glabrous, green; 2 outer smaller ones 0.9-2.8 by 0.8-2.1 mm; 3 inner larger ones 1.4-3.33.3 by 1.2-3.6 mm, margin petaloid, white. Petals 5, elliptic to obovate, 0.5-4 by 0.3-2.2 mm, white; claw 0.2-1 mm high; margin pilose, outside and inside (sub)glabrous, apex rounded to acute; scales 0.3-2 mm long, free, apex (very) much broadened; crest usually absent to a pilose flat part of the bifid scale apex. Disc uninterrupted, yellow. Stamens 8; filaments 1.2-5 mm long, pilose, especially basal¬ly, white; anthers 0.3-0.8 mm long, glabrous to slightly pilose, pink. Pistil: ovary 0.2-2 mm long, subhirsute, light green to white; style and stigma 0.1-2 mm long. Fruits with 1-3 well developed lobes, 0.7-1.5 by 0.7-1.8 cm, smooth to somewhat ribbed, glabrous, red when fresh, blackish when dry; stipe 2-5 mm high, slender; margin blunt; lobes 5-10 by 4-9.5 mm. Seeds obovoid, 5-9 by 4.1-7.3 mm, black; hilum 0.8-2 mm long.
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A shrub or tree. It can be 1-18 m high. The leaves are alternate and compound. The flowers are 4 mm across. They are white and occur in groups. The fruit are 14 mm across and red. They have 3 lobes. The seeds are dark and have a white fleshy layer or aril around them.
Uses Boiled roots act against blennorrhea (suppurating inflamation of mucous membranes; Petelot Pl. Medic. Cambodge, Laos, Viet-Nam 1 1952 201 ). The wood is apparently usable for house construction ( De Clercq Nieuw Plantk. Woordenb. 1909 251 nr. 1710 ), and is resistant against termites and used as poles ( Gagnep. Fl. Indo-Chine Suppl. 1 1950 981 ). The wood of G. bijuga, rather similar to that of G. diplopetala, seems to be very vulnerable to insect attack. The arillode is presumably edible (Pételot, 1952).
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The aril of fleshy layer around the seeds is probably edible. Caution: There have been some reports that it is poisonous.
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