Shrub or small tree, to 6 m tall; stems densely spreading-pubescent, less so in age. Petioles stout, ca 3 mm long, densely pubescent; blades +/- elliptic, acuminate, obtuse to rounded at base, 4-12 cm long, 1.5-4.5 cm wide, pellucid-punctate, the surfaces sparsely pubescent, the midrib densely so, the margins revolute and ciliate. Glomerules dense, axillary, among leaves or at defoliated nodes, less than 1 cm long, densely pubescent; pedicels obsolete or nearly so; flowers 4-parted; sepals ovate, 1-2 mm long, spreading at anthesis, ciliate, with +/- inconspicuous glandular dots, persisting in fruit; petals white, obovate, 3-4 mm long, glabrous; anthers many, long-exserted; style long-exserted, more than 1 cm long. Berries globose, 4-7 mm diam, at first green turning red and finally black at maturity, glabrous, glandular-dotted; seed l, globose, 4-5 mm diam. Croat 5556, 6131. Occasional, along the shore. Flowers mostly from February to August. The fruits develop in about 1 month. Mexico to Colombia and Venezuela. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, San Blas, Coclé, Panama, and Darien, from premontane dry forest in Coclé, (near Penonomé), and from premontane wet forest in Panama (Cerro Azul).