Descripción: Árbol de 5 a 10 m de alto. Tronco con ramas verticiladas y arqueadas. Corteza exterior gris. Ramitas terminales bifurcadas en forma dicótoma y con una hoja saliendo del punto de la bifurcación. Hojas simples y alternas, a veces subopuestas, de 10-30 x 5-15 cm, ovadas o elípticas, con ápice acuminado, bordes enteros a veces oscuramente dentados y base redondeada o ligeramente cordada. Las hojas son ásperas al tacto. Pecíolo de 0.5 a 1.5 cm de largo. Todas las partes jóvenes de la planta presentan pelos. Flores blancas. Frutos en drupas, de 0.5-1 cm de largo y con restos del cáliz en la base, verdes, tornándose blancos y pegajosos al madurar.

Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas elevaciones, en bosques secos o húmedos de todo el país. Deja caer sus hojas durante la estación seca, pero las repone a inicios de la estación lluviosa. Florece y fructifica de abril a octubre.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK cordbi Cordia bicolor LK2 , pero en C. bicolor las hojas son más pequeñas y los frutos maduran de color amarillo.

Usos: La madera es empleada para postes de cercas y en la fabricación de mangos de herramientas. Los frutos maduros son comestibles.

Shrub or slender tree, to 7 (15) m tall, functionally dioecious (see discussion below), strigose nearly throughout and hirsute on stems and axes of inflorescences. Leaves alternate or subopposite, dimorphic; petioles 5-15 mm long; larger blades ovate to ovate-elliptic, acute at apex, +/- rounded at base, 16-30 cm long, 7-15 cm wide, +/- entire, asperous, the midrib arched; smaller blades subopposite to the larger ones and usually less than half their length, ovate-orbicular. Inflorescences large, usually terminal, the cymes paniculate; flowers white, sessile, functionally unisexual; calyx 3.3-4 mm long, 5-dentate, pubescent; corolla ca 4 mm long; staminate flowers with corolla campanulate, lobed more than one-third its length, the lobes 5, recurved; stamens 5, 4-5 mm long, exserted ca 2.3 mm above rim; filaments united to basal two-thirds of tube, pubescent above point of attachment; ovary and style together to 3 mm long; ovary depressed- globose, orange; style narrowly conical, included, branched, each branch bifid near apex; nectar abundant; pistillate flowers with corolla salverform; stamens reduced, included, less than 2 mm long; ovary ovoid-oblong; style well developed, exserted, branched, each branch bifid near apex, the lobes clavate and recurved. Drupes subglobose to ovate, ca 1 cm diam, white at maturity; seeds tan, subglobose, ca 6 mm long. Croat 10390, 11967. Occasional, in the forest. Flowers in early rainy season (May to July). The fruits mature rarely as early as June, mostly in September and October, rarely as late as November. According to Nowicke in the Flora of Panama (1969) and Bawa and Opler (1975), the species is functionally dioecious. However, a tree on the slopes of Cerro Campana (Croat 14667), apparently staminate, was probably the same tree from which fruit was collected a year earlier.