Shrub or small tree, evergreen, hermaphrodite, 3-10(15) m tall, with a highly branched trunk, rounded crown. Black or dark brown to dark reddish brown or gray bark, smooth, slightly cracked longitudinally and quite scaly. Abundant vertical respiratory aerial roots (pneumatophores), small, slender, up to 20(30) cm tall, distributed in a radius of up to 10(15) m around the tree. Leaves opposite, coriaceous, with a 2-15(27) mm petiole, without stipules. Leaf blade measuring (3)4.5-12(15) x 1.5-4.4 cm, lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong to oblong, elliptical or obovate, with an acute or obtuse apex, gradually tapering at the base, cuneate, entire, glabrous and of an intense green color above, with short hairs applied and lighter beneath. Inflorescences in axillary cymes or terminal spikes, with 1-15 pairs of flowers per spike, and a quadrangular section peduncle. Sessile flowers, 1-2 cm in diameter, actinomorphic; calyx with five sepals, 3-5 x 2-3 mm, orbicular or broadly ovate, concave, hirsute and ciliate; corolla gamopetalous, with a tube somewhat longer than the sepals and 4 ovate whitish lobes (initially yellowish but later white or cream-colored) with a yellowish or orange inner throat of the corolla; androecium with four stamens inserted in the throat, alternating with the lobes of the corolla, with a short filament. The fruit (1.2-4 x 0.7-1.5 cm) is an ovate to elliptic bivalve capsule, slightly flattened, asymmetrical, apiculate, glabrous or slightly sericeous-tomentose. Inside it contains a single seed that germinates before the fruit falls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-44878","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n