Spotted Sterculia is a tree with a straight trunk. Leaves are hairless above, velvety beneath, oblong-ovate acute or acuminate. Leaf base is rounded or nearly heart-shaped. Flower panicles are sparingly branched. Flower-buds are spherical. Flowers are chiefly male. Sepal tube 1/3 inches densely rusty hairy outside, glandular within, bell-shaped, divided into 5; segments broadly ovate-acute, ultimately reflexed, covered with long hairs. Flowers are yellow, with purple glands on the inside of the petals. Anthers 12, Ovary stalked, spherical, 3-5-lobed. Style curved, stigma 3-5 lobed. Follicles 1-5, size of a small apple, each about 3 inches, obovoid, covered with reddish down, smooth, pink within. Flowering: December.