Tree, usually 8-14 (20) m tall; younger parts appressed-pubescent. Leaves alternate; petioles usually 4-8 mm long; blades elliptic to ovate, acuminate to acute at apex, obtuse to rounded at base, 10-18 cm long, 5-8 cm wide, +/- entire, darker and moderately appressed-pubescent above, paler below with slender appressed trichomes on veins, the trichomes obscuring the surface. Panicles open, with flowers in small cymes; flowers bisexual; calyx tubular-campanulate, ca 4 mm long, with 5 small, +/- 4-unequal teeth, persistent in fruit; corolla white, salverform, 4.5-6 cm long, 5-lobed ca one-third its length; stamens 5, exserted; filaments ca 3 mm long; anthers ca 1.5 mm long; ovary ovoid; style lobed, the lobes 4, exserted, clavate. Drupes ovoid, ca 1 cm long, attached at base, dull green turning yellow, with dense, short, appressed trichomes; seeds ovoid, ca 8 mm long. Croat 5630. Frequent in the forest. Flowers from February to May, especially in February and March, with the fruits maturing from May to July. Different branches of the tree may not flower synchronously. Sporadic in Central America and northeastern South America; southernmost Lesser Antilles. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Panama, and Darien and from premontane wet forest in Panama (Altos de Rio Pacora, ca 800 m elevation).