Herb 1-2 m tall, pubescent or glabrous; stems fistulose. Leaves simple, entire, 10-30 cm long and 7-16 cm wide, ovate or elliptic, apically long-acuminate, basally obtuse, the lateral veins evident, arcuate; petioles 2-4 cm long. Inflores-cence axillary, at first terminal and erect, sometimes apically branched and sub-umbellate, several-flowered, the peduncle puberulent 1-5 cm long, elongating slightly in fruit and bearing congested pedicel scars; pedicels somewhat de-flected and 5 mm long in flower, stout, erect and to 10 mm long in fruit. Flowers small, calyx 1-2 mm long, glabrous, lobed--halfway down, the lobes rotund-deltoid; corolla white, ca. 15 mm across; stamens equal (or perhaps one somewhat longer), the anthers 3-4 mm long, stout, ovate, apically acute, opening by two tiny closely-placed introrse pores. Fruits turbinate, laterally flattened, 2.5-3 cm long, white (Ruiz & Pavon), drying black and appearing tuberculate by con-traction of the pericarp around the seeds.
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