Trees , to 10 m. Branches dense; terminal bud not covered by imbricate bracts. Leaf blade narrowly elliptic, 7-12 × 2-4 cm, base and apex acute; surfaces glabrous; domatia absent. Inflorescences to 8 cm, nearly glabrous or sparsely pilose. Flowers: tepals white, rotate; ovary superior, glabrous. Drupe ± ellipsoid, to 18 mm, seated in shallow, bowl-shaped cupule to 7 mm diam.

Flowering late winter-spring (Mar-Jun). In woods; 0-100 m; Fla.; Mexico (Yucatan); West Indies; Central America (Caribbean coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras).