A dioecious completely glabrous shrub, liane or small erect evergreen tree 4–12 m. tall with drooping branches, or sometimes a large tree up to 25 m. with a rounded crown, exuding a milky sap.. Bark smooth or minutely fissured, brown.. Twigs slightly zigzag, prominently scarred at the nodes, smooth, yellowish-to olive-green.. Leaves sometimes opposite on the main axes, always alternate on the flowering shoots; petioles canaliculate, 0.5–1 cm. long, eglandular; leaf-blades obovate to elliptic-oblanceolate or elliptic, (4–)7–12(–17) cm. long, (2–)3–6(–8) cm. wide, shortly and abruptly obtusely acuminate or cuspidate, cuneate to attenuate and decurrent, entire or occasionally shallowly and somewhat remotely crenate-serrate, thinly to firmly chartaceous, lateral nerves 5–9 pairs, camptodromous in the lower half, brochidodromous in the upper, scarcely prominent above, slightly so beneath, dark green and glossy above, paler beneath.. Inflorescences leaf-opposed.. Male inflorescences simply spicate, densely flowered, 2.5–8 cm. long; peduncles 0.5–1 cm. long; bracts eglandular.. Male flowers: calyx-lobes 3, broadly suborbicular-ovate, concave, 0.7 mm. long, 0.9 mm. wide, subacute, minutely ciliolate, hyaline, greenish yellow; anther-thecae 0.3–0.4 mm. diameter, yellow; pistillode minute, ± columnar.. Female inflorescences umbellate, 3–5-flowered, 1–1.5 cm. long; peduncles 4–7 mm. long; bracts soon falling.. Female flowers: pedicels stout, 2–4 mm. long; sepals 3, triangular-ovate, 1 mm. long and wide, subacute, minutely sparingly ciliolate, opaque, greenish; petals 0; disc-glands 3, petaloid, alternating with the sepals and carpels, triangular-ovate, 0.8–0.9 mm. long, subacute, yellowish green; ovary (2–)3-locular, subglobose, 1.5–2 mm. diameter, smooth; stylar ‘cap’ ± 1 mm. diameter.. Fruit usually trilobate-subglobose, rarely bilobate, 5 mm. long, 6 mm. diameter, ± smooth, green at first, later becoming brownish green, loculicidal or septicidal; columella slender, 5 mm. long.. Seeds compressed-ellipsoid, 4–5 mm. long, 3–4 mm. diameter; sarcotesta orange-red; endotesta foveolate, black.
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A small tree. It grows 8-12 m high. The trunk is 1 m around. It can grow to 24 m high. The trunk is sometimes fluted. The bark is grey and finely cracked. The branches are zigzag shaped because they bend at each node. Branches are often opposite. The leaves are 7.5-21 cm long by 3.5-11 cm wide. The leaves are thin and papery. The flowers are separately male and female. Male occur in single spikes opposite the leaves. Female flowers are very small and in clusters of 3-5. The fruit have 3 lobes. They are 6 mm across. They contain 3 red seeds.
A shrub or a tree up to 80 ft. high with zigzag branchlets
Slender yellow male flower-spikes
Pale yellowish-green foliage
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