A soft-wooded erect shrub to 3 m tall. Young shoots and petioles sparingly pubescent to subglabrous. Petioles 3-13 cm with branched stipitate glands ad-axially. Leaf-blades 3-5-palmatifid or palmatipartite, the lobes obovate, the median lobe 4-10 x 2-5 cm, the laterals smaller, acute, mucronulate, minutely glandular-denticulate and ciliate, the blades cordate, 3-5-nerved from the base, with 9-12 pairs of lateral nerves per lobe, sparingly pilose on the main nerves above, otherwise glabrous, dark bronze-coloured. Stipules slender, multifid, 4-8 mm long, gland-tipped. Inflorescences leaf-opposed, paniculate, 8-18 cm long, with a clear peduncle 6-8 cm long; bracts linear-lanceolate, 6-12 mm long, margin stipitate-glandular and ciliate. Male flowers: calyx-lobes elliptic-lanceolate, 2 x 1 mm, acute, stipulate-glandular and ciliate; petals broadly obovate, unguiculate, 3.5 x 2 mm, rounded, reddish-purple; disc-glands free, turbinate, truncate; stamens 8, the 5 outer 2 mm long, the 3 inner 3 mm long, anthers 0.6 mm long. Female flowers: calyx-lobes and petals twice as large as in the ♂ flowers, otherwise similar; disc shallowly 5-lobed, the lobes retuse; ovary trilobate-subglobose, 2 x 2 mm, somewhat hirsute; styles 1.5 mm long, bifid. Fruit rounded-trilobate, c. 1 x 1 cm, sparingly hirsute to subglabrous, septicidaily and loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds compressed ovoid-ellipsoid, 7 x 4 mm, pale greyish-brown; caruncle multifid, 3 mm wide.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: Sept: Mar.

Holotype: Brazil, Bahia, Bheus, Manilas (M).

Distribution: W. Indies, Central & S. America. Introduced into the Old World tropics, where it is grown as an ornamental.