An erect evergreen or deciduous tree, 7—20(—40) m tall, trunk up to 1 m diameter, often narrowly buttressed, bark brownish and shaggy, crown narrow or spreading, often strongly branched; latex white, gummy. Leaves spirally arranged, clustered at the end of branches; petiole 2—5 cm long; blade obovate to oblanceolate, 10—30 cm x 4—10 cm, acuminate at both ends, glabrescent, pale brownish below, nerves prominent at both sides. Flowers in clusters of 6—15 in the axils of fallen leaves along the branches, subsessile, bisexual, white to pale-yellow, small, 5-merous; calyx with 8—12 silky, rounded lobes, 5 mm long; corolla tubular and with 5 blunt lobes; stamens 5, staminodes 5; pistil 8—10 mm long, ovary 5-celled. Fruit a globose, ovoid or ellipsoid berry, 8—20 cm long, often bluntly pointed at apex, weighing 0.25—2.5 kg; skin dark-brown, rough, firm, leathery to semi-woody, up to 1.5 mm thick; flesh pinkish to dark-red, soft, sweet. Seeds 1(—4), spindle-shaped, 5—8 cm long, hard, glossy brown; hilum rough, large, whitish; kernel oily, bitter.

Used as a sedative in ear and eye ailments, and as a skin tonic and hair revitalizer (seed); anthelminthic and emetic (sap from the bark).

PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

For stopping loss of hair caused by seborrhoeic-dermatitis (seed); to remove warts, and to cure fungal skin infections (sap from the bark).