Tree, to 35 (40) m tall and ca 1 m dbh; trunk straight; branches ascending; outer bark smooth, bearing abundant lenticels; heartwood reddish-brown; sapwood pale, the freshly cut bark emitting a pungent, obnoxious odor. Leaves alternate, generally imparipinnate, fragrant when crushed; petioles 1-4 cm long; rachis and petiolules pubescent, terete; rachis 5-15 cm long; leaflets 5-10, alternate on rachis, lanceolate to elliptic, acute to acuminate, obtuse at base, 3-11 cm long, 1.8-4 cm wide. Racemes axillary, to 20 cm long, closely cinereous-tomentose; pedicels 1-1.5 cm long; flowers oblique on pedicel; calyx campanulate, 3.5-4.5 (6) mm long, with obvious, fine ribs, the lobes ca 1.5 mm long; standard orbicular, ca 9 mm diam, cordate basally, the claw ca 1 mm long; wings elliptic to narrowly spatulate, ca 1 cm long, ca 4 mm wide, their claws 2 mm long, the keel subelliptic, ca 8.5 mm long and 3 mm wide, its claw ca 1.5 mm long; ovary sparsely villous, borne on stipe 2 mm long; style subulate. Samaras narrowly obovate, to 11 cm long, glabrous, on stipes to 1 cm long; wing to 8 cm long, l-2 cm wide, the seminiferous area turgid, at the apex of the fruit, obliquely oblong, 2-3 cm wide, ca 1 cm thick, extending as a low, longitudinal ridge into the pedicel; appearance of fruit much like that of Platypodium elegans. Ebinger 215.