Tree (or shrub) 20-50 m. high; branchlets brown-tomentose becoming gla-brescent; petioles up to 3 cm. long; blades shining above, glaucescent and brown-tomentose beneath, irregularly elliptic, often obovate-elliptic, 24-30 cm. long and up to 15 cm. broad, the base usually rounded, frequently almost truncate, the apex rounded, acute or abruptly acuminate or obtuse, lateral nerves 8-10 pairs, the lowermost diverging from the costa at an angle of 75-800, the upper 35-40?, loosely reticulate. Inflorescence of numerous subterminal subsessile panicles 10-150 cm. long, with: persistent bracts. Flowers 6-8 mm. long, borne on slender pedi-cels usually of equal length; perianth pale greenish yellow, turning crimson at the base or light, rose with age, the lobes subequal, to 7 mm. long, persistent, pubescent without, stamens to 3.8 mm. long, the flaments twice the length of the anthers, the two upper cells often only one-half the size of the two lower; those of ser. III with conspicuous, cordate, stipitate glands; staminodia to 2.5 mm. long, cordate, stipitate, the pubescent stipe one-half the entire length; gynaecium ? 3.8 mm. long, the ovoid ovary pubescent, the slender style pubescent, twice the length of the ovary, the stigma inconspicuous. Fruit similar to that of P. americaa, obovoid, early very pubescent, later becoming glabrescent and roughened, sub-tended by thickened, persistent perianth-lobes which are borne on enlarged pedicels, both lobes and pedicels becoming glabrescent.
Moist or wet, mixed forest, often in open, pine or oak forest, frequently in open fields or pastures, at elevations of 900-2,700 metres.
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