Climber to 20 m long, glabrous, leafy stem 2-4 mm diam.; dioecious or occasionally monoecious. Probract obovate or elliptic, 5(-10) mm long, glands present. Tendrils 2-or 3-branched. Leaves: petiole 2-7.5 cm long; blade (dark) brown on drying, membranous or chartaceous, simple, 3(-5)-lobed, 1/3-3/4 deep (unlobed in form siberutensis), in outline circular or broadly ovate, 4-17 by 4-18.5 cm, glabrous, usually scabrous above, glands several, scattered, 0.5-1 mm diam., cystoliths obvious or not, margin entire, sparsely with very small dents or ± coarsely dentate; veins 3(-5), straight; lobes generally triangular, lateral lobes often somewhat out-curved. Male raceme thinly brown hairy, partly glabrescent; peduncle 5-10 cm long; rachis not thickened, 10-15 cm long, 1.5-3 mm thick, 3-20-flowered; bracts late-caducous, obovate-elliptic or rhomboid, (10-)20-30 mm long, margin dentate or coarsely shallowly (deeply) laciniate, 2-7 mm deep, glands present. Male flowers: pedicel c. 5 mm long, caducous; receptacle-tube 40-60 mm long, at throat 6-10 mm wide; sepals narrowly triangular, 8-12 mm long, 3-4 mm wide at base, (sub)entire, rarely (Peninsular Malaysia) with narrow sidelobes or broadly triangular (see note); petals broadly obovate-rhomboid, 20 mm long, threads 20-25 mm long; synandrium (Java) c. 15 mm long, filaments subglabrous, c. 5 mm long. Female flowers occasionally some in the male raceme; pedicel 5-12 mm long; ovary glabrescent, (narrowly) ellipsoid, 10-12 by 4-5 mm; sepals and petals as in male, but shorter. Fruit ripening evenly (orange-)red, (narrowly) ovoid, (5-)7-9 by (4-)5-6 cm, apex c. 5 mm beaked; exocarp leathery or woody, smooth; pericarp firm-carnose, dry pericarp 5-10 mm thick; pulp green-black, bitter; fruiting pedicel 0.5-2.5 cm long, 3-9 mm thick. Seeds dark brown, compressed, obovate or narrowly elliptic, smooth, 10-13 by (4-)5-10 by 1-3 mm, margin absent, edge entire.
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