Can grow into a medium-sized, rarely very large tree of 30 m and 90 cm Ø; base of the tree with characteristic coiled or wrinkled low root swellings. Bark smooth and grey, flaky with horizontal lines. Slash hard, granular, ochre-yellowish, with some clear watery sap. Twigs slightly swollen and compressed at the nodes, the internodes 1 – 3.5 cm long. Stipules interpetiolar, triangular, covering a sticky terminal bud, leaving transverse scars at the nodes when shed. Petiole 5 – 7 mm; blade coriaceous, dark green above, paler beneath, 5 – 13 cm long, cuneate at base, bluntly acute or shortly cuspidate at the top. Margin entire. Laterals 5 – 8 , hardly raised beneath; reticulation indistinct. Leaves of watershoots larger. See also PROTA database.

Small montane tree to 10 m., observed in the Nimba region. Young stems with dense, long hairs, including the apical bud. Leaves simple, opposite, with stipules persistent; young parts with long erect hairs.