Shrub or small tree, 2-10 (12) m tall; trunk to 12 cm diam; branchlets often densely ferruginous-pubescent, becoming glabrous and lenticellate. Leaves deciduous; petioles usually less than 5 mm long; blades +/- oblong-elliptic, acuminate, +/- acute at base, 9-17 cm long, 2.5-6 cm wide, usually pellucid-punctate, pubescent on veins on both surfaces (especially below), the margins coarsely serrate with gland-tipped teeth. Fascicles dense., sessile, axillary, ca 2 cm broad; pedicels somewhat shorter than flowers, articulated near base; flowers greenish-white, with a moderately sweet aroma., 4-5 mm long; calyx 5-lobed, united near base, spreading at anthesis; corolla lacking; stamens usually 10, stiffly erect, alternating with very pubescent staminodia, the 5 alternating with calyx lobes somewhat shorter than the others; anthers with apical bristles; style held above anthers in bud; stigma round, minutely bristled, the surface with an abundant sticky fluid; ovary conspicuously pubescent, the pubescence merging with that of staminodia. Capsules +/- globose, to 2.5 cm diam, yellow at maturity, nearly glabrous; seeds numerous, irregular, to 8 mm long, embedded in a sweet, juicy, orange matrix. Common in the Canal Zone and to be expected on the island, but not seen in recent years. It was reported by Standley for the island, but no collections have been found. Flowers in the late rainy and early dry seasons; according to Allen (1956). It flowers several times at short intervals. The fruits mature in the late dry and early rainy seasons. Plants lose their leaves in the late dry season, while still bearing fruit, and remain leafless for a short time.