Woody vine to 5 m long, usually many-branched from base. Stems obtusely 3-5-angled, flavo-pubescent or pilose, glabrescent with age, < 1 cm in diameter, not producing milky latex; cross section with a central, large vascular cylinder and 2 or 3 peripheral smaller vascular cylinders. Stipules oblong, 10-12 mm long, pilose. Leaves pinnately 5-foliolate; petiole and rachis broadly winged; petiolules 1-2 mm long; leaflets chartaceous or membranous, adaxially sparsely pubescent, especially along the midvein, abaxially softly pubescent, especially on veins, with a tuft of hairs in the axils of the secondary veins, 4-15.5 × 2-7 cm (the distal leaflet larger), the apex acute, the margins remotely serrate; distal leaflets oblanceolate, with cuneate base; lateral leaflets oblong, ovate to nearly oblanceolate, sometimes asymmetrical, the base obtuse or acute, tertiary venation reticulate. Thyrses axillary, spicate, solitary, with pubescent axis; bracteoles subulate, pubescent, 3-10 mm long; cincinni sessile, few-flowered. Calyx yellowish green, minutely pubescent, with 5 sepals, outer sepals ovate, ca. 2.5 mm long, inner sepals oblong, 4-5 mm long; petals white (hyaline in dry collections), obovate, 4-5 mm long; appendages slightly shorter than the petals, thin, with yellow fleshy crest at apex, and ciliate margins; disc of 4 oblong-ovoid lobes; torus pilose; filaments appressed-pubescent; ovary sericeous. Capsule globose or globose-trigonous, unwinged, shortly stipitate (stipe 2-3 mm long), red, turning brown with age, woody-crustose, 2-2.3 cm long, softly pubescent but glabrescent with age; mesocarp ca. 2 mm thick; endocarp papery. Seed dark brown, shiny, 2-3 per fruit, 10-12 mm long, ellipsoid, with white, bilobed sarcotesta on lower ½.
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