Shrub or small tree to c. 6 m high. Stems grey, strongly lenticellate; vegetative shoots with thick white pith. Leaflets (3)-5-7, dark purple when very young, soon green. Petiole to c. 7 cm long on flowering branches, ± hairy. Petiolules hairy; lateral petiolules < 1 cm long; terminal petiolule > 1 cm long. Lamina of terminal leaflet 4.5-11-(13) × 3.5-6-(7) cm, broad-elliptic to broad-ovate, glabrous, or ± hairy on veins beneath and on midrib above, serrate except towards base; apex acute to cuspidate. Lamina of lateral leaflets smaller and narrower. Infl. a large flat corymb, mostly 10-20 cm across, glabrous or nearly so, with slender peduncles and pedicels which usually become red or purple at fruiting, or occasionally remain green. Fls foetid. Calyx 0.5 mm long. Corolla white; lobes 2.5-3 mm long, broad-elliptic. Stamens < corolla. Fr. 4-8.5 mm diam., globose or subglobose, usually shining black, occasionally green. Pyrenes c. 3 mm long, ovoid-oblong, rugose.