Shrubs or trees to ca. 6 m; twigs gray, lepidote when young, glabrescent. Stems light gray, nearly smooth. Leaves alternate or indistinctly pseudoverticillate; petiole to 5 mm, puberulous-lepidote; blade 1-4.5 × 0.5-2.5 cm, coriaceous, margins slightly to strongly revolute, apex obtuse to rounded or retuse, mucronate. Racemes 4-30-flowered, to 6 cm, commonly exceeding leaves. Pedicels 7-12 mm; bracts lanceolate, 0.5-0.7 mm. Flowers: sepals 2-2.5(-4) mm, margins entire or erose; petals 6-9 mm, lobes ca. as long as or longer than tube; stamens shorter than staminodes; staminodes oblong, 3.5-4.5 × 2-3(-4) mm, apex obtuse, rounded, or truncate. Berries orange-red, 9-10 mm diam., pericarp smooth. Seeds brown, 3-5 mm.

Flowering year-round. Coastal strands, on sand or exposed rocky ground; 0-10 m; Fla.; West Indies (Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica).

Jacquinia keyensis is localized in the coastal strand; it grows mostly on coral exposures within the salt-spray community of the Monroe County keys, and Miami-Dade and Lee counties. It is listed as threatened by the state of Florida.

The name Jacquinia armillaris Jacquin has been misapplied to Florida material of J. keyensis.