Erect shrub or treelet a few m high, glabrous except for the inflorescence. Petiole to 45 cm, clasping base prolonged as a broad stipular ligule, 1½-3 cm long, several prominent long pectinate petiolar crests extending up the petiole as oblique groups of bristles; blade to 30 cm long, base cordate or truncate, deeply palmately 3-7-lobed, lobes extending to within c. 1 cm of the base, broadly elliptic to oblong, entire or with subsidiary lobes, somewhat narrowed towards the sinuses, apex abruptly apiculate, margin remotely denticulate or serrate, sinuses very broadly rounded. Inflorescence a terminal, compound, furfuraceous umbel, hemispherical, c. 10-12 cm ø; peduncle 2-3 cm, densely enclosed in broadly ovate bracts c. 2 cm long, bearing dense fascicles of strong bristles on their blades; primary rays 15-30, c. 2.5-3 cm long, 2.5 mm wide, pubescent, subtended by large bristly bracts c. 1.5 cm long, bearing opposite terminal usually bristly bracts 6-15 mm long, each ending in 3 branches; central branch c. 4-10 mm, pubescent, bearing a terminal umbellule of c. 10-20 sterile bacciform flowers 2-3 mm ø, 2-celled, pedicels 3-4 mm tomentose sometimes with a ruff of hairs around the pseudo-fruits, subtended by early-caducous small fimbriate bracts; lateral branches 2.5-3 cm long, with two opposite bracts (2-3 mm) about the middle, bearing a terminal head (8 mm ø without corollas) of c. 15-30 sessile flowers, subtended by inconspicuous ovate tomentose bracts. Calyx an obsolete rim. Corolla in bud c. 1 mm long. Stamens 3. Ovary 3-celled. Fruiting head 10-12 mm ø; drupes c. 6 mm long, crowded, sessile, 3-angled; seeds 3.
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