Unbranched tree, mostly to 6 m tall, essentially glabrous, dioecious or rarely polygamous or monoecious. Leaves in a dense terminal crown; petioles to 70 cm long; blades ovate, deeply 5-9-lobed, cordate at base, the lobes broadly pinnatifid when mature, 20-40 cm long, obscurely acuminate; palmate veins at base 7-9. Staminate inflorescences axillary; flowers many, short-pedicellate, ca 2 cm long; sepals 5, ca 1 mm long, green; corolla cream-yellow, the tube slender, the limb 5-lobed, the lobes oblong; stamens in 2 series, ca 2.5 mm long. Pistillate inflorescences of 1-3 flowers on pedicels to 2.5 cm long; calyx lobes ca 1 mm long, green; corolla 5-lobed to base, 5-7 cm long, cream-yellow; style to 1 cm long; stigmas 5, usually with 1 or 2 short branches. Fruits maturing within crown of leaves; berries variable. Croat 5907. Cultivated at the Laboratory Clearing. Flowers sporadically year-round. Sex changes in the flowers are reported under different ecological conditions (Percival, 1965).