Large tree, branches whorled, horizontal, glabrous; leaves alternate, usually crowded towards apices of branches, large, digitate, oblanceolate, acuminate at apex, pubescent when young; petiole terete, long, grooved; stipules ensiform, caducous; flowers many in erect, axillary, raceme or panicle, ultimate pedicels shorter than flowers, jointed in the middle; bracteoles minute; calyx deeply divided into 4-5 lobes, often coloured, linear-oblong, much larger, pubescent outside, wooly inside, dull orange; petals absent; staminal column in male flowers-curved, stamens 12-15; anthers sessile, crowded together at tip of the gynandrophore, surrounding reduced pistillodes; in female flowers calyx tube 4-5 lobed; staminodes absent; carpels 5,pubescent, sessile or stalked on stout, long gynophores; staminodes forming a ring beneath, ovary unilocular with 2-many ovules; style curved; stigma knob-like; follicles usually woody, oblong, boat shaped, shortly beaked, nearly glabrous; seeds 10-15, arillate, smooth, black.