Shrubs or small trees , erect, 2-7 m, sparsely pubescent. Leaves: petiole ca. 1/20 length of leaf blade, not winged. Leaf blade oblong, ovate, widely lanceolate to elliptic, 11-24 × 4-8 cm, base obliquely rounded to obliquely cuneate, apex acuminate; surfaces abaxially soft-pubescent, adaxially scabrous. Spikes 8-15 cm. Fruits oblong, 2 sides flattened longitudinally, both ends × truncate, apex depressed, regularly pitted or reticulate; beak minute, ca. 0.1 mm.

Flowering all year. Thickets, woodland margins; 0-20 m; introduced, Fla.; West Indies; Central America; South America.