Rhizomatous suffrutex, with precocious flowers appearing on leafless shoots 5–15 cm. tall, the subsequent leafy shoots 30–90 cm. tall; stems pubescent above, glabrous and ridged below. Leaf-blades 2–12 cm. long, 2–16 cm. wide, usually deeply 3–5-lobed, the lobes (linear to) narrowly lanceolate to oblong or elliptic-oblong, 1–9.5 cm. long, 0.3–4.5 cm. wide, acute, ± entire or serrate, upper surface pubescent when very young, later glabrous or with hairs on the nerves near the base, lower surface glabrescent to pubescent when mature; petiole 1–6 cm. long; stipules linear, 5 mm. long. Flowers showy, appearing usually close to ground level but sometimes a few at the apices of leafy shoots, about 7–9 cm. in diameter; pedicels 1.5–4 cm. long, grey-tomentose and pubescent. Sepals elliptic-oblong to rounded, 1.1–1.7 cm. long, 0.5–1 cm. wide, grey-tomentose outside. Petals golden-yellow, rounded, 2.5 cm. long, 2.2 cm. wide. Anthers 4–6.5 mm. long; filaments equal or ± unequal, 4–9 mm. long. Ovary subglobose, 2.5 mm. wide, woolly or glabrous in some West African specimens; style 1–1.5 cm. long. Capsule fusiform-ellipsoid or obovoid, 4.5–6 cm. long, 2.5 cm. wide, glabrescent or tomentose, ± ridged; inner thin shiny layer straw-coloured. Seeds ± reniform but with a deep often narrow sinus, longest dimension 5.5 mm., shorter dimension 4.5 mm., 2.3 mm. thick, the sinus 1–1.5 mm. deep, covered with cream-coloured cottony hairs, shiny under the easily removed hairy testa. Fig. 1.
