The trunk is a light greyish-brown with smooth bark, and the twigs and shoots are largely devoid of hairs.

Each leaf has two erect, leathery stipules that are ovate, slightly recurved and do not encircle the stem.

The fruits are rounded, sticky and yellow when ripe, the carpels developing long, horn-like processes.

[2] Macaranga triloba occurs in Indo-China, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Sumatra, Java and the Philippines.

In 1982 and 1983, fires devastated the Bukit Soeharto Education Forest, in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.