Cagajón, Caranon Tree, 10-25 m tall, to 50 cm dbh; branches dark, conspicuously covered with light lenticels (and raised leaf bases on older wood). Leaves deciduous, often clustered near apex of branchlets; stipules lanceolate, 3-6 mm long, densely pubescent; petioles 5-20 mm long, densely brown-hirsute; blades +/- oblong-elliptic, short-acuminate, rounded to subcordate at base, 6-16 (25) cm long, 2-6 (9) cm wide, densely pubescent below, sparsely so above, pellucid-punctate, obscurely serrulate. Inflorescences of globose fascicles in uppermost axils of leafless branches; flowers precocious, ca 1.5 cm broad, white or yellow, with a faint, rather foul aroma; pedicels and sepals conspicuously pubescent; pedicels to 18 mm long, articulate a few mm above base; sepals 5, 6-7 mm long, +/- rounded at apex; corolla lacking; stamens numerous, exserted, ca 4 mm long, interspersed with staminodia about half as long; both stamens and staminodia united into a flat platelike base; anthers introrse; ovary densely short-tomentose; style short; stigma as broad as ovary. Capsules fleshy, depressed-globose, somewhat 3-sided, rounded at apex, subcordate at base, mostly 6-8 cm diam, usually dark brown at maturity, softly pubescent; valves thick, exposing bright orange matrix and seeds; seeds many, obovoid, ca 4 mm long, angular, white. Croat 4962, 13995. Frequent in the forest, especially the young forest. Leaves fall sometime before flowering. Flowers mostly from February to May, before or during the onset of new leaves. Leaves are often not full size before the fruits reach maturity from April to June. Southern Mexico to Panama; West Indies, Trinidad. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Panama, and Darién and from tropical dry forest in Coclé (Penonomé). Reported from premontane moist forest in Costa Rica (Holdridge et al., 1971). See Figs. 403 and 404.