Tree to 27 m high; twigs moderately robust, striate, minutely fuscous-puberu-lent. Leaves alternate; stipules 12-20 mm long, 4-6 mm wide, lanceolate, navicu-late, minutely puberulent, obtuse, undulate to repand-dentate; petioles 5.5-14.5 cm long, terete, striate, incrassate at both ends, subpuberulent to puberulent; blade 21-40 cm long, 8-23 cm wide, ovate to usually elliptical, chartaceous to subcoria-ceous, the midrib and secondary veins distinct, puberulent above, the midrib on the underside under-cut next to the blade so as to appear almost terete, the midrib and secondary veins prominent, subpuberulent beneath, the secondary veins 12-15, arcuate-ascending, the base of the blade subacute to rounded, the apex obtuse to acuminate-obtuse or subacute, the margin irregularly undulate to repand-dentate to prominently obtuse-dentate. Inflorescences 13-27.5 cm long, the pedicels cyrnosely arranged at the ends of the branches of the racemes, the peduncles, pedicels and bracts minutely puberulent, the peduncles 12-26 cm long, striate, the pedicels 5-12 mm long, the bracts subtending the pedicels to 2 mm long, deltoid to lanceolate, obtuse, the bracts of the peduncle 3-10 mm long, ovate, naviculate, entire to sparsely dentate, obtuse, occasionally 3-lobed. Flowers yellow, fragrant, 2-3 mm long, 2.5-4 mm in diam; sepals united into a 4-to 6-lobed plate beneath the broad receptacle, or the margin of the calyx merely irregular, not lobed, puberulent within and without; stamens 1.5-2 mm long, the filaments to 0.5 mm long, angled, glabrate, the anther-sacs and connective spreading and truncate so that, at anthesis, the stamens form a subglobose mass with a mosaic-like surface; pistil to 3 mm long; ovary to 1.5 mm long, 1 mm in diam, ovoid, 4-angled, 4-loculed, finely and densely puberulent, the style to 1.5 mm long, tapered from the base, at times 4-angled, glabrous, the apex obtuse, entire. Capsule to 2.5 cm long, 2 cm in diam, ellipsoidal, 1-or 2-seeded, usually 4-valved; valves 2-4 mm thick, densely covered with reddish, semicurved, semiflexible spines; spines to 2.5 cm long, tapered from the base, scarcely minutely puberulent; seeds to 15 mm long, 7 mm in diam, ellipsoidal, almost completely covered with a 6-lobed aril, the 3 large lobes irregularly laciniate; aril firmly attached to the chalazal 1/3 of the seed.
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