Stout, brittle plants; leafy stems terete or nearly so, to 1 cm thick. Leaves paired; short-petioled to nearly sessile; blade very fleshy, irregularly orbicular-obovate or asymmetrical, to 11 x 11 cm; venation pinnate. Inflorescence terminal and in nearby axils; triad peduncle and pedicels stout; bracteoles blunt and short; cupule heavy, investing basal 1/4 of barrel-shaped ovary 0.7 x 0.6 cm; calyculus smooth or irregularly dentate. Flower bud 0.5 cm thick below, 1.5-2 cm long and to 0.7 cm thick, with clavate, blunt tip; petals orange red with yellowish or light green tip, very fleshy, to 6.3 cm long, spongy "ligule" at tip encasing stigma and tips of upper stamen series; stamens dimorphic, filament attached to petal ca. 4.3 cm above base, stout, 1-1.5 cm long, anthers light yellow, 0.7-0.8 cm long, blunt, overlapping slightly; style straight, stigma 0.15 cm thick, finely papillate, placed well above anthers. Fruit purple with pink base, ovate, 2 x 1 cm.