Perennial, erect, densely branched, large shrub or small tree; branches scandent with copious, aerial roots; stem cylindrical, grey, unarmed, marked with scars of fallen leaves; leaves 3-5, narrow, ensiform, caudate-acuminate, coriaceous, drooping, glossy green with recurved spines on margins and at midrib; spadix white, very fragrant, axillary or terminal, clothed with leafy spathes; flowers small, unisexual, crowded on a catkin like spadix or its branches; bract-bracteoles absent; perianth absent; male flowers numerous; stamens many, filaments free or connate, anthers erect, basifixed; pistillode minute or absent; female flowers solitary, pendulous in fruit; staminodes small or absent; carpels united in groups of 10, ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, stigmas subsessile, short, papillose; ovule solitary, suberect, or many, parietal; fruit a globose-oblong mass of 1-many celled, woody or fleshy, angular drupes red or yellowish-red; seeds minute, striated.