Tree, 10-30(-36) m by 20-75 cm, buttresses, if present, up to 2 m high. Branchlets 5-9 mm thick, lenticellate, younger parts pubescent. Leaves 1-4-jugate. Pith of the petioles with 1-4(-11) vascular strands. Leaflets oblong, 7-20 by 3-9 cm, rigid; base more or less broadly cuneate; apex long acuminate; nerves 7-13 pairs (angle 60-70°), curved, not arching but in the apex; reticulations very dense. Inflorescences axillary and sometimes terminal, broadly paniculate, rigid, minutely pubescent, glabrescent, without or with a short peduncle, the ♂ ones 8-23 (-28) cm, female ones 4-14 cm. Flowers 2.5-3.5 mm long, glabrous. Calyx 1.5 mm, subtruncate. Stamens free or slightly adnate to the disk. Disk cupular, the rim 6-undulate to truncate, in ♂ flowers very thick, in female ones thinner. Fruits ovoid, somewhat acute at the apex, 16-18 by 9-11 mm.
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Medium to large trees that develop short medium round buttresses. The tree can vary between 5 and 24 m high. The trunk can be 60 cm across. The bark is covered with small growths but is not rough to touch. The bark smells like green mangoes and when cut oozes pale white latex. The leaves occur on opposite sides along the stalk. The leaflets are hairy on the underside. There is no stipules or leafy structure at the base of the leaf stalk which helps distinguish them from closely related Canariums. Male and female flower parts are on separate flowering stalks. These flowers occur among the leaves not at the very tips. The flowers are small and white and have a smell. The fruit are thinned walled. Fruit range from 2-5 cm and mostly oval with a sharp tip.
The fruit are boiled for about 5 minutes, then the flesh is eaten. The seeds are soaked for some weeks to remove toxicity, then cooked.
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