Large shrub or small tree sometimes as much as 20 m. tall, the younger branches ferruginous-pilose to glabrate. Leaves imparipinnate, petiolate, 3-9 cm. long, the rachis broadly winged in rhombic sectors between the pairs of leaflets; lateral leaflets in 2-6 pairs, oblong-elliptic to obovate, unequally cuneate at the base, acute or obtuse at the tip, rather closely crenulate, about 0.7-3.0 cm. long and 0.5-1.0 cm. wide, wholly glabrous or more or less pubescent beneath; terminal leaflet usually somewhat larger and more symmetrical than the lateral, rhombic-elliptic to obovate, obtuse to acuminate; petiole 0.7-2.0 cm. long. Inflorescences usually distinctly paired in the axils of the uppermost pair of leaves, narrowly cylindrical, 2-9 cm. long, the pedicels 2-3 mm. long, slender, usually more or less ferruginous-pilose like the peduncle; sepals triangular, persistent in fruit, about 1 mm. long; petals white or rarely pinkish, slightly longer than the sepals; stamens with white filaments 2-3 mm. long, the small anthers orange. Capsule glabrous, 3-4 mm. long; seeds pilose.
Wet, mixed, mountain forest, at elevation from 2,000-3,100 metres in Guatemala. Dwarf forests on mountain peaks in Puerto Rico.
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