Shrub or small tree, to 5 m tall; pubescence dense, stellate, often +/- viscid especially on inflorescences. Stipules narrowly ovate, to 20 mm long, 2-4 mm wide; petioles 5-15 cm long; blades broadly ovate, acuminate, cordate at base, 12-23 cm long, 10-20 cm wide, sometimes shallowly trilobate, irregularly serrate-dentate. Flowers solitary in axils or paniculate and terminal; pedicels 1-2.5 cm long, articulate near apex; epicalyx bracteoles 12-16, lanceolate-linear, 1.5-2.5 cm long; calyx cupular, hidden by epicalyx, 2-4 mm long; petals 5, rose, narrowly obovate, 3-5 cm long; staminal tube shorter than corolla, lobed, antheriferous on upper part; filaments ca 6 mm long; style exceeding staminal tube, the branches 10, to 7 mm long. Mericarps 5, obovoid, to 6 mm long and 3 mm wide, +/- 3-sided, black; seeds ca 4.5 mm long, black, surrounded by a whitish aril. Croat 4330, Foster 1455. Rare, collected twice in recent years on Zetek Trail; probably more abundant in previous years. Elsewhere in the Canal Zone the species usually occurs along roadsides or in open areas. Flowers in the early dry season. The fruits mature principally from January to March. Costa Rica to Colombia and Venezuela. In Panama, common in premontane wet forest in the Canal Zone and Panama; known also from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone and Panama and from tropical wet forest