Tree, to 10 m tall; trunks 10-15 cm diam above the enlarged base, much of the trunk bearing spines, at least when young, the spines simple or branched, to 16 (35) cm long, sometimes restricted to base of older plants. Petioles longer than blade, broadly canaliculate; blades round in outline, 1.5-2 m diam or more, palmately veined and irregularly lobed almost to base, lobed completely to base on lower margin, green and glabrous on upper surface, densely whitish-pubescent on lower surface, the trichomes so small and appressed as to appear glaucous (sometimes arachnoid with brown trichomes on veins); juvenile blades triangular in outline, deeply 2- or 3-lobed (more in age), densely arachnoid-pubescent. Inflorescences interfoliar, nodding, the spathelets (nodifronds) short, acuminate, densely woolly on outside, ultimately deciduous, the outer ones coriaceous, the outermost usually bearing 2 keels, the inner ones longer, each subtending a branch of the spadix, to 15 or 30 cm long, closely enveloping at least lower part of branch; spadix branches at least as long as broad, 30-75 cm long, the main axis stout, the branches very short or to ca 30 cm long, densely flowered; flowers bisexual, 3-parted, glabrous; sepals oblong; petals broadly obovate to rounded, concave, 2.5-4 mm long, the margins thin, the sepals and petals stiff, erect, forming a narrow tube; stamens 6; filaments in pairs, flattened, broad and united at base, slightly longer than petals and cernuous near apex; anthers ca 1 mm long, pendent on outside of corolla just above apex; pistils 3, narrowly ovoid, long-tapered to apex, curved outward just above apex; stigmas held just above.throat of corolla. Fruits round to obovate, mostly 1-2 cm diam, smooth, fleshy and white at maturity; pericarp thin; seed 1, round, 8 mm or more diam. Croat 17017. Recognized by the palmate leaves, the white fleshy fruits, and the branched spines on the trunk, which Bailey (1943) considered to be root thorns. Cryosophila albida Bartl. and C. guagara P. H. Allen cannot be considered distinct from C. warscewiczii, since key characters such as pubescence and fruit size are very variable. Belize to Panama, no doubt also Colombia. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest on both slopes of the Canal Zone and in Panama and Darien; known also from premontane wet forest in Coclé (El Valle) and Panama (Cerro Campana) and from tropical wet forest in Darien. See Fig. 63.