Herb about 20-30 cm tall; stem c. 2.5 cm diam. Leaves c. 6 together, glabrous, peltate in quite advanced juveniles but not in adult plants; petiole c. 15 cm long, dull pale green spotted with mostly transversely orientated elliptic minute deep purple dots and larger, slightly raised glands of the same color, sheathing in the lower 1/4 – 1/3; wings of sheath at first clasping younger leaf bases, later widely flared, persistent, tinged red marginally.

Blade ovato-sagittate, held pendent to obliquely erect, strongly coriaceous but not markedly thick, bullate between the costae, primary and subsidiary veins (thicker-than-normal secondary veins), adaxially matt grey green, darker about the costae and main veins and over the subsidiary and submarginal veins, abaxially dark reddish purple;

Anterior lobe c. 15 cm long and wide, with the widest part a few cm distal to the petiole insertion, the tip obtuse and apiculate for c. 2 mm; primary lateral veins 5-7 on each side of anterior costa, the proximal ones close-spaced, diverging at c. 90° (proximal ones) to 45° (distal ones), impressed adaxially, dark purple and bearing conspicuous axillary glands abaxially.

Secondary veins adaxially impressed, mostly obscure abaxially; subsidiary veins frequent, 1~2(—3) on each side of primary veins in the outer third of the lamina, adaxially impressed and abaxially conspicuously colored, and, with the secondary veins, forming distinct interprimary collective veins; primary and interprimary collective veins running into a conspicuous submarginal vein c. 2 mm within the margin;

Posterior lobes acute, c. 8—9 cm long, with the outer margins slightly sinuate, the inner sides narrowly lanceolate; posterior costae diverging at 45-60°, naked in the sinus for c. 1.5 cm.