A shrub or tree up to 15(—20) m tall. Leaves spirally arranged, ovate or elliptical, 3—9 cm x 2—5 cm, apex shortly blunt acuminate, margins crenulate-serrate. Inflorescence unisexual, male inflorescence densely spicate, almost catkin-like when young. Fruit a capsule, tricoccous, lobed, about 1 cm in diameter, borne in short racemes.
Used as a caustic for obstinate ulcers (latex); applied externally to cutaneous diseases (latex or wood oil); pounded with ginger and applied to reduce swellings on hands and feet (roots); taken orally with coconut juice to treat pneumonia or asthma (root juice); Against ulcers, boils and eczema, counters leprosy and ringworm (leaves); for epilepsy and externally applied to ulcers (decoction of leaves).