Descripción: Plantas trepadoras o lianas con el tronco formado por tres surcos longitudinales. Ramitas verdes y glabras con savia lechosa y zarcillos saliendo de los nudos. Hojas imparipinnadas y alternas, con 5 folíolos opuestos. Los folíolos de 5-25 x 4-10 cm, ovados o elípticos, con ápice acuminado, bordes enteros o dentados y base decurrente. Estípulas de 0.8-1.2 cm de largo, verdes y deciduas. Pecíolo y raquis sin alas. Inflorescencias en racimos axilares. Flores blancas y aromáticas. Frutos en cápsulas, de 1.5-2.5 cm de largo, verdes y formado por tres alas, tornándose rojos al madurar. Semilla 1, envuelta parcialmente de un arilo blanco.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK paulba Paullinia baileyi LK2 , pero en P. baileyi el raquis de la hoja es alado y las ramitas se encuentran cubiertas de pelos.

Glabrous liana; stems terete or 3-ribbed. Leaves pinnate; stipules lanceolate-linear; petioles unwinged, ribbed above, 5-9 cm long; rachis unwinged; leaflets 5, opposite, ovate to elliptic, long-acuminate, 6-22 cm long, 3.5-8 cm wide, entire to remotely coarse-crenate, the terminal leaflet attenuate at base, the lateral leaflets obtuse at base. Thyrses densely clustered, glomerulate, axillary (rarely solitary); flowers white, ca 4.5 mm. long; sepals 5, glabrous, irregular, ciliate; petals 4, obovate, often asymmetrical, about twice as long as their scales, the anterior scales ciliolate, about as broad as long, their inner margins extending laterally and overlapping, the reflexed appendage as broad as long, ciliolate, the glands on anterior petals ovoid, hispidulous, on lateral petals lacking; stamens 8; filaments flattened, glabrous; ovary pubescent near apex; staminate flowers with 3 sessile stigmas; bisexual flowers with the style 3-branched at middle. Fruits broadly 3-winged, red, 3-celled (only 1 functional), ca 2 cm long, glabrous; valves striate on outside, tomentose inside; seed solitary, ca 9 mm long, ovoid, black, the lower half white-arillate. Aviles 46, Croat 14850. Rare; collected once in flower by Aviles and once sterile recently. Elsewhere the fruits mature in the middle of the rainy season (August to October). Distinguished by being glabrous and having five leaflets., with the rachises and petioles unwinged.