This showy species is distinguished by its relatively large, bright pink corollas with the lobes as long as or usually longer than the tubes; in contrast the corollas of other species of Macrocnemum have the lobes about half as long as the tubes. This species is known from a somewhat small range in northern Colombia, where several other Rubiaceae are also endemic (e.g., Ciliosemina purdieana, Coussarea antioquiana). This name was overlooked for some time, at least in part because most of the material associated with Cinchona dissimiliflora was later treated as Ferdinandusa or Ladenbergia and the identity of the type was confused.