A tree, up to 30 m tall and trunk 75 cm in diameter, in cultivation usually only 5—10 m tall; bole up to 25 m, irregularly fluted, with steep buttresses. Bark mottled grey and orange, furrowed, containing milky, sticky resinous sap. Twigs glabrous to pilose. Leaves alternate, odd-pinnate, 30—50 cm long, glabrous to densely pilose, petiole up to 7 cm long; leaflets alternate, 6—9, elliptical to oblong, 9—21 cm x 5—10 cm, glossy, chartaceous-coriaceous, base somewhat asymmetric, apex short acuminate, lateral veins 10—14 pairs, petiolules 5—12 mm long, thickened at base. Inflorescences many flowered, solitary or in fascicles of 2—10 on the trunk or largest branches; racemes simple or branched at the base, 10—30 cm long; flowers bisexual, sessile to pedicelled, solitary, small; calyx fleshy, cup-shaped, 5-lobed, greenish-yellow; petals fleshy, erect, ovate, 2—3 mm x 4—5 mm, white to pale yellow; staminal tube subglobose, up to 2 mm high, anthers in one whorl; ovary globose, appressed pilose, 4—5-celled; style short, thick, stigma broad. Fruit an ellipsoid or globose berry, up to 2—4(—7) cm x 1.5—5 cm, yellowish pubescent, calyx persistent with reflexed lobes; fruit-wall thin (1—1.5 mm) or thick (up to 6 mm). Seeds 1—3, enveloped by a closely adhering, thick, fleshy, translucent white aril; cells without developed seed are also filled with aril tissue.

Astringent (bark); diuretic and antipyretic (seeds).

PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation
ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation (ARCBC)

Used against diarrhoea (dried fruit peels); to cure fevers (crushed seeds); applied against dysentery and malaria (bark); used in poultices against scorpion stings (powdered bark).