Shrub or several-stemmed small tree 3–6 m. tall, with smooth grey bark; young branchlets dark when dry, glaucous, with obscure raised rugae; older branches brown, ridged, with rather elongate lenticels and very prominent leaf-scars. Leaf-blades elliptic-oblong or obovate-oblong, 6–18 cm. long, 3.3–8 cm. wide, broadly rounded to obscurely acuminate or sometimes retuse at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, at first thin and glaucous but later almost coriaceous, glabrous; in adult leaves the venation is closely reticulate and slightly raised on both surfaces; petioles 4–8 mm. long, glabrous; bud-scales 1.3 cm. long, 1 cm. wide, coriaceous, rugulose, with ciliate margins. Flowers pendulous in extra-axillary cymes; peduncle 2–3 cm. long; pedicels 2–5 cm. long; bracts and bracteoles ovate, 0.8–2 cm. long, 0.5–1.2 cm. wide, acute at the apex, cordate at the base, glaucous. Sepals ovate, 7–8 mm. long, 4–6 mm. wide, glaucous. Petals cream, yellow-green or dark yellow, heavily marked with red or reddish-brown; outer elliptic-oblong, 1.9–2 cm. long, 1.1–1.5 cm. wide, obtuse, the margins undulate and crisped, glabrous; inner remaining connivent for some time, with a transversely elliptic lamina and cuneate claw, ± 1–1.2 cm. long, 0.9–1.1 cm. wide in lamina area, 6 mm. wide at top of claw and 3 mm. wide at base of claw, glabrous outside, but lamina long-pilose inside and with dense rather woolly hairs around the margins. Stamens 0.5–0.75 mm. long. Ovary ovoid, ± 1 mm. long, glabrous. Young fruits pale green with numerous white or pale yellow spots, glaucous and dark purplish when dry, ellipsoid, 4.2 cm. long, 2.5 cm. wide (fide Leonhardt 337; specimens of fruits with Price in Ch. H. 344 are 2.5 × 1 cm. when dry). Seeds chestnut, ovoid, trigonous, 1.4 cm. long, 1.1 cm. wide, 6.5 mm. thick, shiny, circumscribed with a rugulose flange.
