Evergreen monecious tree to 24 m tall with conical to rounded crown. Twigs and leaves covered with long hairs. Leaves 8-20 cm long, elliptic to oblong-elliptic. Male flower heads cylindrical, smaller than female on leafy twigs or on short fruiting twigs, female heads on main trunk. Fruits mostly on main trunk, cylindric, up to 35 cm long, yellow with sets of flat warts with a strong harsh penetrating odour (in cultivated form, wild form var. silvestris without such odour).