An erect spreading shrub or small tree up to 4(—7) m tall; branchlets terete. Leaves alternate, the majority crowded at the end of the branches, spathulate to obovate, 12—26 cm x 5—10 cm, base attenuate, apex blunt to rounded, margin entire, sinuate to dentate, herbaceous to thin-fleshy, glabrous to shortly tomentose, sessile; stipules absent. Inflorescence axillary, cymose, laxly branched, about 4 cm long, few-flowered, bracts persistent, peduncle 0.5—2 cm long. Flowers 5-merous, zygomorphic, 2—2.5 cm long, scentless, white to pale yellow, pedicel 0.3—1.2 cm long, glabrous to densely appressed hairy; calyx adnate to the ovary, lobes linear to narrowly elliptical, 0.2—0.5 cm long, persistent; corolla glabrous to pubescent outside, densely pubescent inside, tube 0.5—1 cm long, lobes membranous, fimbriate towards the base, about 0.5 cm long; ovary inferior, 2-celled, style faintly pubescent at base. Fruit a fleshy drupe, 1—1.5 cm in diameter, faintly 2-lobed and ribbed, pellucid-white when ripe, stone 0.8 cm x 0.6 cm, 2-seeded.

Anticancer (root)

PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

The leaves may be eaten as a cure for indigestion, cough or colds, and may be used as a poultice for headache. It is traditionally used for skin ailments, swellings, elephantiasis, scrotal swellings, oedema, chill and indigestion. The roots in decoction are used in beri-beri and in certain syphilitic affections, also in dysentery. The young leaves are chewed for cough and tunerculosis, and boiled into a tea or else the juice from the heated leaves is mixed with water to treat cough. The sap may be directly applied to sores. After removal of the epidermal layer the leaf is chewed to treat malaria. An extract from the leaves is used as a form of long-term contraception by women. The juice squeezed from young stems and ripe fruits is applied directly to bites and stings. The diluted sap from the leaves or sap from the ripe berries is used to clear opacity of the eye and in the treatment of eye infections. The root is applied as an antidote after eating poisonous fish or crab. The bark is applied for abscesses, menstrual complaints and bone fractures. The stem is used for abdominal complaints. An extract from the leaves is used as a form of long-term contraception by women. It is also used to treat asthma and earache.