Tall tree, to 50 m tall and 1 m dbh; wood dark purple, hard; branchlets slender. Leaves bifoliolate; petioles to 2 cm long; petiolules 3-4 mm long; leaflets lanceolate-elliptic, subfalcate, long-acuminate, obliquely rounded or obtuse at base, 5-7 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, the veins reticulate. Inflorescences racemose, terminal or subterminal, bearing few to many flowers; branches of the inflorescence 5-7 cm long, the branches, pedicels, and calyces tomentose; pedicels to 2 mm long, nodose in middle; sepals ca 2.5 mm long, obtuse; petals 5, ca 3 mm long, obovate; stamens ca 3 mm long; ovary tomentose; style slender, maroon, ca 2 mm long. Legumes broadly obovate, flattened, ca 3 cm long and 1.6 cm wide, glabrous, mucronulate at apex, somewhat arcuate above, rounded below, on pedicels to 8 mm long; seminiferous area indistinct; seed 1, ca 2 cm long, obliquely ovate, depressed, persistent on the dehisced fruit, hanging by the funicle. Reported by Standley for the island, but no collection was cited and none has been seen. The only material of this species from the Canal Zone that I have seen was growing at Summit Garden. It is possible that the species is not native to central Panama. Allen (1956) reported that in Costa Rica individuals flower several times from August to December at two-week intervals, with flowers lasting about three days and the fruits maturing in February. The leaves of these plants were briefly deciduous in the early dry season.