Small tree with very soft wood, up to 12 m tall, often with crooked branches; bark smooth, ash coloured; leaves thin, coriaceous, palmately 3-5 lobed, leaflets ovate or lanceolate, tomentose beneath when young, 5-7 nerved, glossy above, base obtuse, margin entire, apex acute-acuminate, petiole slender, 10-20 cm; flowers large, golden yellow in terminal panicles on leafless branches; sepals ovate, acute, silky; petals yellow, obovate, notched; stamens many, free on eglandular disc, anthers opening by pores or slits; ovary globose, 3-5 celled, style slender, stigma toothed, ovules many on 3-5 parietal placenta; capsules large, drooping down, obovoid, 7-10 x 6 cm, 3-5 valved; seeds many, reniform, brown, obovoid, cochleate, covered with white, silky floss.