A small tree, 30 feet high; the younger branches, petioles, and nerves of the leaves covered with bristly hairs. Leafstalks 2–4 in. long. Leaves 4–5 in. long, cordate, roundish, palmately 5–7-lobed; lobes narrowed at the base, obovate, acuminate, sinuous or entire. Flowers crowded, in short terminal clusters; pedicels 1/2 in. long, covered with reddish down. Calyx funnel-shaped, leathery, downy outside, purplish within; limb 4- or 5-cleft; lobes ovate, acute, spreading. Male fl.: Staminal column cylindrical, smooth, shorter than the calyx, surmounted by a ring of ten 2-lobed anthers; lobes parallel, often surrounding an imperfect ovary. Female fl.: Ovary oblong, downy, 10-celled (?), surmounted by 10 reflexed styles. Follicles thick, 2 in. long, numerous. Seeds with a fibrous testa. Cotyledons 2.
