Liana up to 30 m high; main stems 5 cm thick or more; bark exuding reddish or purplish sap when cut. Leaves firmly chartaceous; petioles (1-)2-11 cm long; stipules ca 2-2.5 mm long, pubescent; blades elliptic to oblong, ca 8-21 cm long, 5-15 cm broad, pubescent beneath or sometimes glabrate, the veins at base 3 or 5, with 2 or 3 additional pairs of main veins, the veinlet reticulum conspicuous beneath, the glands at base of blade massive, rounded, sessile, ca 1.2-2 mm wide, the base rounded to truncate or subcordate, the margins entire, the apex mostly bluntly obtuse. Inflorescences paniculate, ca (1-)2-5 dm long, with a few lateral axes toward the base, these ca 1-15 cm long, sometimes again branched, bearing many male and a few female flowers which are central in hymaphriditic cymules or solitary at ends of ultimate axes; bracts on lower parts of axes lanceolate, densely pubescent, 2-3 mm long, biglandular near the base; bracts on distal parts of axes foliose, ca 2-3.5 cm long, 1.5-5 mm broad, glabrate, biglandular well above the base (ca 4-8 mm). Staminate flowers with pedicels becoming 1.5-2.5 mm long; calyx-lobes 4 (rarely 5), biseriate, unequal, the inner pair more or less cochleately enveloping the androecium, fleshy, at anthesis 1.5-2.7 mm long, 1.7-2.6 mm broad, glabrous except for the + ciliate margins; disc fleshy, more or less adnate to base of calyx-lobes, ca 1.5-2.2 mm across; stamens 2 (rarely 3), the androecium (dilated connectives) disciform, fleshy, 1-1.5 mm wide, the anthers 0.6-0.8 mm long. Pistillate flowers on pedicels ca 1-2 mm long; calyx-lobes 4 and decussate (rarely 5), ovate, fleshy, 1.5-2 mm long and about as broad, pubescent or nearly glabrous; disc thin, circular, ca 1.2 mm wide, hidden under the ovary; ovary ca 3-4 mm high, ovoid, sericeous, the stylar column stout, sericeous, 2-2.5 mm long, the stigmas erect, ca 0.2 mm long. Fruits fleshy, pomiform, ca 8-12 cm in diam, at length dehiscent (?); seeds com-pressed, rounded, 3.9-4.5 cm broad, brown, rugulose.
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A climber. The bark has a slimy white latex that turns red. The flowers are of single sexes but on the same plant. They are in the axils on old wood. They can be arranged with one central female flower. The fruit is a pear shaped berry. It can be angular. It is fleshy and 11.5 cm long by 8 cm wide and 7 cm thick. It tapers towards the base. The pulp is greenish-yellow and edible. There are 2-3 seeds. These can be 3 sided. They are 5 cm long by 4.5 cm wide and 3 cm thick. They are rich in oils and edible. They have a rough seed coat.
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