Tree or shrub, evergreen, up to 8(15) m tall in the first forest strip from the coastline but, further inland, it reaches a clearly arboreal appearance with up to 30(40) m tall and a trunk circumference of up to 2.5 m. Normally without a main trunk defined from the base of the soil. The “base” of the trunk appears elevated on a set of aerial roots that form a kind of tangled dome, one or more meters high, at the top of which these roots converge, gradually giving shape to a single trunk that soon branches or rises straight. Greyish or greyish-orange bark, smooth, branches with ellipsoidal scars left by the base of the petioles of the fallen leaves. The youngest twigs are reddish. Leaves opposite (7-13 \u00d7 2.5-5 cm), coriaceous, glabrous, elliptic to obovate-elliptic, entire, with an acute or obtuse non-mucronate apex, rounded or cuneate base; yellowish green when young, when mature, dark green above and a little lighter beneath. Midrib very prominent, sometimes reddish on the underside, secondaries barely visible. Petiole 1-2 cm. Stipules elongated, acute. Inflorescence in axillary cymes, 5-7 cm long, with 8-20 tetrameric flowers, main peduncle 1.5-4 cm, pedicels 3-4 mm. Bracts coriaceous, obtuse, persistent. Calyx campanulate, thick, whitish-greenish, with sepals 8-11 mm long and 3-4.5 mm wide, ovate, with acute apex. Petals about 6-10 mm long, narrowly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, with long whitish woolly hairs on the margins, fleshy, whitish-yellowish, expanding between the sepals. Ovary ovoid-conical. Stamens 8. The fruit is an ovoid, hard, brown berry, with 1-2 seeds that develop inside (viviparity) giving rise to a very elongated (30-65 cm) propagule or hypocolyte with a circular section, slightly narrowed at the ends, first green, finally dark greyish-brown, with lenticels. This propagule is formed in the tree and when it falls it can take root directly on the ground or (since it floats in the water) be dragged by the sea currents hundreds of km and take root on any tropical beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-44985","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n