Perennial herbaceous up to 1 m. Suborbicular leaves, ovate or oval, 2 to 5 cm, apex obtuse to round and sometimes acute, base rounded; they are paler on the underside. Fascicles of flowers arranged in a long panicle, minute flowers, with the calyx from 1.5 to 2 mm and the blade from 0.8 to 0.9 mm in heads forming peaks; purplish-red perianth. Obovoid fruit, 2.5 to 3 mm, 5-angular.

Herbaceous biennial or annual, acaulescent, with red-purple succulent root. Ovate to ovate-oblong leaves, long petiolate, green, red or purple, forming a rosette on the ground. Scape of up to 2 m with numerous flowers grouped in a large and diffuse panicle. Fruits joined in groups of two or more.

Tree of up to 13 m in height. Single, alternate, membranaceous, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acute to acuminate leaves, 10 to 20 cm long and 2 to 5 cm wide. Short, lateral, internodal inflorescences, with few yellowish green flowers; pedicels 1.6-2.4 cm long, outer petals 1.5-2.5 cm. Syncarpous, subglobose fruit, reddish when ripe, up to 12 cm in diameter, yellowish, sweet or tasteless and aromatic flesh; numerous, black, shiny seeds.