Much bramched, evergreen trees,12-15 m in height; leaves opposite, decussate, 20-50 cm long; leaflets 5-9, ovate-oblong to elliptic, acute or mucronate at apex, often oblique at base, entire, coriaceous or leathery; flowers in very long(about 1m), drooping, pyramidal, lax panicles or pendent racemes, large, erect, purple to maroon in colour; calyx irregularly 2-lipped, campanulate, coriaceous, greenish-yellow, glabrous; corolla wine-red in colour, 5-10 cm long, basal tube as long as the calyx, bilipped, upper lip 2-lobed, lower 3-lobed, spreading, throat wide; stamens 4, didynamous, filaments stout, flattened, anthers 2-celled, splitting lengthwise; staminodes rather larger; disc present; ovary 2-celled, ovules many, style long, filiform, stigma 2-lobed; capsule oblong, indehiscent or subdehiscent, shortly beaked, 25-30 cm long, pendulous, woody coating, many seeded; seeds obovoid, wingless, embedded in the pulp.