Shrub or tree 3-26 m high, up to 43 cm dbh, variable in form from bushy to gnarled to slender. Twigs velutinous, axillary buds and young leaves sericeous. Leaves imparipinnate with 2-19 pairs of lateral leaflets; total length up to 10.5 cm, including petiole c. 0.5 cm long; rachis segments 0.3-1 cm long; petiole and rachis diverging from the stem at an angle of almost 90° especially at growing tips; petiole and rachis segments terete, densely velutinous, the hairs erect, up to 0.5 mm long; leaflets coriaceous, imbricate or not, flat or revolute, usually glabrous or puberulent above, the cuticle thick and shiny, sparsely to densely strigose-velutinous beneath, the midrib velutinous; lateral leaflets elliptic, oblong or somewhat ovate, with margins ± parallel, 0.6-2.6 by 0.3-1.1 cm, inserted ± at 90° to leaf rachis, of ± equal size in one leaf, base symmetrical or not, cuneate to square to cordate, apex broadly acute; terminal leaflet narrowly elliptic to elliptic, 0.9-3 by 0.3-1.2 cm, base petiolulate, the petiolule c. 0.3 cm long, apex acute; margin crenulate with 4-7 notches on each side in the lateral leaflets; midrib and secondary veins depressed into cuticle above; secondary veins ± at 90° to midrib; tertiary venation obscure. Stipules ± orbicular or reniform, up to 0.8 by 1.1 cm. Inflorescence a pair of dyads (rarely a pair of tetrads, or 4 dyads, or 4 individual racemes), sometimes a few successive nodes flowering simultaneously; the apical bud of the main stem densely velutinous and often continuing to grow vegetatively during flowering; peduncles 0.3-0.4 cm long, densely velutinous; racemes up to 9 cm long, densely velutinous. Flowers unisexual or rarely bisexual; pedicel 0.5-1 mm long, puberulent or ± glabrous; calyx lobes 0.7-1 by 0.6-0.9 mm, hirsute; petals elliptic, oblong or almost circular, 1-1.9 by 0.7-1.2 mm, rounded or notched at apex; disc lobes 0.3-0.6 mm long; in male flowers: filaments 2.2-3.6 mm long, ovary c. 0.6-1 mm, pubescent, styles 0.2-0.5 mm, incurved; in female flowers: filaments 0.8-1.7 mm long, ovary 1-1.5 mm long, pubescent, styles 0.5-1 mm long, straight, puberulent at least at base, stigmas capitate, papillose; in bisexual flowers: filaments 2.6+ mm long, ovary 1-1.5 mm long, the styles 1-1.8 mm long, straight. Capsules with valves 2.5-4 by 1.5-2 mm at dehiscence; exocarp densely pubescent; calyx lobes persistent. Seeds c. 1 mm long, bearing hairs all over the surface, longest at ends.
In lower montane and montane forest, also secondary forest and open scrub on limestone, abundant and gregarious, at 1000-3250 m, at higher altitude in the Central Highlands of New Guinea
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