Small trees to ca. 8 m tall; stems terete, rufous-tomentose when young, be-coming glabrate. Leaves pinnate; petiolule and rachis usually with long, coarse, reddish-brown persistent trichomes; leaflets 2-4 pairs, lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate-oblong, long-acuminate at the apex, obtuse to acute at the base, 3-15 cm long, 1.3-5 cm wide, entire, membranous, glabrous on both sides, sometimes pubescent on the prominently raised midrib above and along the major veins be-neath. Panicles axillary, racemiform, 3-10 cm long; pedicels 2-3 mm long, articu-late in the lower 1/3, sparsely pubescent below the articulation. Flowers ca. 4 mm long; calyx bowl shaped, 2.5-3 mm diam., divided almost to the base, the lobes oblong-ovate, acute at the apex, ca. 1 mm long, viscid-puberulous outside, glabrate inside; petals white, narrowly oblong, acute at the apex, gradually tapered to the base, 2 mm long, the scales nearly as long as the petals, fused to the lower 1/3 of the petal, deeply bifid to the point of insertion, each part narrowly spatulate, ciliate, villous; disc plate shaped, the margin thin, undulate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, one edge turned up forming 2 semicircular lobes; stamens villous in the lower half; staminate flowers with stamens 3-3.5 mm long, the anthers small, broader than long, the pistil minute, densely tomentose; bisexual flowers not known. Immature capsules subglobose, to 12 mm long, 2-lobed, sessile, bilocular, densely reddish-brown tomentose outside, densely long sericeous inside. Matayba ingaefolia is most easily confused with M. glaberrima but can be distinguished by its densely brown-tomentose fruits and by the long, coarse, brownish trichomes on the petioles and leaf rachises.
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