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Petals yellow or greenish at first, the inner ones with a reddish base, all turning purple-brown, the outer ones 2–3.5 (4.5) x 1.6–2.7 cm., obovate to broadly elliptic or suborbicular, rounded to obtuse or bluntly acuminate, widely spreading with plane margins, sparsely pubescent or puberulous, the inner ones (0.6) 1–1.6 x (0.9) 1.4–2.1 cm., broadly ovate to subhastate, obtuse or rounded to cuspidate, with a claw (0.5) 0.7–1.0 cm. long, erect or ± spreading, pubescent except for the glossy upper side of the claw.
A bushy shrub or slender tree. It grows to 7 m high. The bark is grey and smooth. The leaves are oblong and 6.5-16 cm long by 3-3.5 cm wide. They are shiny pale green. They taper to the base. The leaves droop. The flowers bloom in late spring. They are very striking. They are reddish-brown and hang downwards. The look something like a butterfly or orchid flower. The fruit are round and mottled. They are 4 cm across. They become dark brown and deeply ridged. There is a hard shell with many dry brown seeds inside.
Flowers solitary, extra-axillary or in the axils of fallen leaves, pendulous, appearing with the young leaves, scentless; pedicels 0.8–2.0 cm. long (or rarely to 4 cm. long), sparsely pubescent or glabrescent; bracteole 3–9 mm. long, ovate to orbicular, rounded, amplexicaul, glabrescent except for a marginal fringe.
Leaves petiolate; lamina 6.5–16.5 (17.5) x 3–5.5 (7) cm., narrowly oblanceolate to obovate or elliptic-oblong, rounded or obtuse to acuminate at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, usually ± membranous, glabrous, often with a reddish midrib; petiole 1–6 mm. long, blackish, glabrous.
Deciduous shrub or small tree, up to 7 m high. Petals united at base, outer 3 large, spreading and pale green to purplish, inner 3 smaller, reddish purple, clawed. Flowers pendulous, brownish red.
Fruit c. 4–5 cm. in diam., ± globose, wrinkled or lightly vertically ridged, mottled green-grey and brown, glabrous, reflexed, on a pedicel c. 1–3 cm. long.
Sepals c. 5–10 (14) mm. long, elliptic to ovate or orbicular, obtuse or rounded, sparsely pubescent, spreading, with plane margins, green.
Branches blackish-purple with pale lenticels at first, turning silvery-grey, glabrous.
Shrub or small tree, (1.2) 2–7 m. high, erect, sometimes virgate.
Seeds c. 1.5–2 cm. long, ± flattened-ovoid, smooth, yellow-brown.
Ovary c. 0.75 mm. long, globose, sparsely pubescent.
Stamens c. 0.5 mm. long, oblong.
