Saff., J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 15:102.1925 Yava blanca Slender tree, to 20 m tall, with pyramidal crown; stems dark, often lenticellate; parts minutely sericeous when young, glabrate in age. Petioles swollen, stout, ca 6 mm long; blades elliptic to obovate-elliptic, obtuse to acuminate at apex, obtuse to rounded at base, 20-30 cm long, 6-9 cm wide. Flowers solitary in axils on leafless branches; pedicels slender, 2-4 cm long, articulate near middle with small bracteoles above and below the articulation; sepals 3, valvate, 1.5-3 mm long, triangular, connate; petals 6, valvate, sericeous, broadly ovate, thick, the outer three 8-9 (20) mm long, the inner 3 thicker, 5-6 (15) mm long; stamens ca 1.5 mm long. Monocarps 11 or 12, globose, 1.5-2 cm diam, brown or black at maturity, 1-seeded, on a stipe 1-1.5 cm long. Croat 9577 Infrequent, in the forest, especially the old forest. Seasonal behavior uncertain; probably flowering and fruiting intermittently all year. The flowers have been seen in February, July, and August. Full-sized fruits have been seen throughout the year. Costa Rica and Panama. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone and Bocas del Toro, from premontane wet forest in Colón. and Panama, and from tropical wet forest in Coclé. See Fig. 239.