Deciduous, tall tree; trunk usually unarmed, marked with large leaf scars, young branches spreading, sometimes prickly; leaves digitate, about 10-15 cm long, 7-9 foliolate, leaflets obovate, cuspidate, acuminate, glabrous above, glaucous beneath; petioles longer than leaves, flowers solitary, axillary, large, usually scattered on leafless branches; peduncles thick, club-shaped, jointed at the top; calyx urceolate to globose, truncate or slightly 2-lobed; petals-5, linear-oblong, recurved, downy, scarlet within; stamens numerous, filaments slender, less than half the length of petals; ovary ovoid, tomentose, stigma 5-lobed; capsule oblong, glabrous, woody, obtusely 5-angled, curved at apex; seeds woolly, many.