Small tree, to 5 (10) m tall, glabrous except sometimes for puberulence on stems and lower leaf surfaces. Petioles to 6 cm, stout; blades broadly elliptic, obtuse to short-acuminate, obtuse to rounded at base, 15-35 cm long, 10-20 cm wide, entire, pliveined, the major veins 3-5, soon becoming glabrous. Cymes axillary, frequently on leafless branches and on trunk; pedicels 1-2.4 cm long; flowers with an intense, sweet aroma at anthesis, ca 6 cm wide; hypanthium hemispherical; calyx 1.5-2 cm long, hyaline, dehiscing irregularly at anthesis and falling free from the hypanthium; petals 5 or 6 (to 8), oblong, thick, white or pink, to 3 cm long, broader and often very oblique at apex, spreading at anthesis; stamens 10-16, to 1.8 mm long; filaments about as long as anthers; anthers obovate, turned inward, yellowish, with 2 small terminal pores, both the thecae and connective swollen; ovary inferior; style straight, stout, at first medially positioned, soon pushed to one side of flower; stigma large, to 4 mm wide, capitate, held well above stamens. Berries +/- globose, to ca 3 cm diam, pale green at maturity; seeds tan, numerous, ca 0.7 mm long, about twice as long as broad. Shattuck 1119. Collected by O. Shattuck on Gigante Bay and possibly still occurring there, although the species is undoubtedly more abundant elsewhere. Flowers during July and August; mature fruits have been seen in October. The species has been confused with B. axinanthera Tr., which is more abundant and apparently more ecologically variable as well, occurring in Panamanian life zones ranging from premontane moist to premontane rain forests. B. costaricensis Cogn., reported by Gleason (1958) in the Flora of Panama, is a synonym of B. axinanthera. The calyx of B. axinanthera differs from that of B. grossularioides by being regularly dehiscent, with lobes that are thick, regularly acute, and persistent in fruit. The calyx lobes of B. grossularioides are hyaline, and their dehiscence is irregular and often circumscissile.