Erect shrub 1-2(-5) m tall, rarely a climber; young branches reddish to violet, glabrous or essentially so. Leaves chartaceous, elliptic to elliptic-oblong, acu-minate to cuspidate at apex, acute at base, (9-)10-17(-20) cm long, (2-)3-6.5 (-10) cm wide, smooth or sometimes upon drying somewhat crinkled or puckered above, midvein very prominent; petioles robust, glabrous or nearly so, (2.5-)3-4(-5) mm long; stipules usually united, appearing as one, dark red or black, strigillose, linear-lanceolate, 2-3(-4) mm long. Inflorescence a (4-)10-30(-50)-flowered, lax, raceme-like panicle; somewhat strigillose at least when young, flowering axis, common peduncle and rachis (1-)2.5-6 cm long; common pedun-cle robust, (1-)1.5-2.5(-4) cm long, bibracteolate near the middle; rachis (0.5-)1-2(-2.5) cm long; flowering peduncles 2-4(-5) mm long; bracts 1.5-2.5(-3.5) mm long; bracteoles (0.5-)1(-1.5) mm long; pedicel (5-)7-11 mm long, 2-3 times as long as the flowering peduncles. Flowers 1-1.5 cm diam.; buds 3-5 mm diam., keeled, keels ca. 0.5-0.7 mm wide, decurrent at the apex; sepals glabrous, glands 6, 2-3(-4) mm long, as long as or slightly shorter than the sepals; posterior petal (6-)6.5-8(-8.5) mm long, lateral petals 6-7 mm long, anterior petals 4.5-6 mm long; filaments (2-)2.5-3(-3.5) mm long, lateral filaments straight or somewhat curved inwards, obviously thicker than the others, shorter or longer than those opposite the sepals; anthers ca. 1 mm long, pollination gap ca. 1 mm long; ovary obviously 3-lobed; the styles uncinate at the apex, lateral styles 2-4.5 mm long, obviously thicker and usually 0.5 mm longer than the anterior, curved inwards at anthesis, the anterior styles straight or nearly so. Fruit pyramidal-globose, 1-1.2 mm diam.; pyrenes ovoid, 7-10 mm long, 5-7 mm wide; dorsal wing sharp, entire, 1-2 mm wide, lateral wings thick and tuberculate or none, intermediate wings absent.
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