Colubrina spinosa Donn. Sm., Bot. Gaz.  23: 4. 1897.

Shrubs or trees, 1.5--25 m, bark not described, unarmed; young branches with ferruginous or tawny more or less straight, appressed ascending trichomes, rapidly glabrescent, bud scales and bud scale remnants and/or scars not seen. Leaves alternate; blades 10—27.5 x 4.5—12.5 cm, usually elliptic, wide elliptic or oblanceolate (rarely obovate), membranaceous, adaxial surface drying brown-green, or less frequently green or black, abaxial surface drying brown-green or green, 7—12 (13) pairs of lateral veins, adaxial surface glabrous (rarely with a few trichomes on midrib), abaxial surface usually with pale, straight, appressed trichomes restricted to venation, glands attached basally to abaxial leaf surface and along part of circumference tangentially to leaf margin, 1 per side, globose or fungoid (that is circular with strongly raised margin and depressed center), 0—3 mm from junction of blade and petiole, often with corresponding swollen area on adaxial surface, base obtuse, rounded or cuneate, sometimes slightly decurrent, margin entire with 1 tangential gland per side (see above), apex usually acute-cuspidate, less frequently obtuse or rounded and cuspidate, the tip usually very slightly retuse and/or with midrib extended to form minute mucro; stipules caducous, 3—8 x 1.5--4 mm, lanceolate-acuminate, the midrib extending as a spine-tip; petiole (8) 10—25 (35) mm, glands at junction of petiole and blade present or absent (see above). Inflorescence an axillary fascicle of several, often elongated and thick, short-shoots, 0.5—1.5 x 1--2 cm, ferruginous-tomentose to nearly glabrous, peduncle absent; short-shoots usually with several to numerous nodes covered by overlapping persistent bracteoles, usually individually discernable. Flowers on pedicels 3--8 x 0.25—0.5 mm, in fruit 5—15 x 0.4—0.7 mm; hypanthium 0.75—1 x 1.5—2.5 mm. Sepals 1—1.5 mm. At anthesis disc a ring, not at all hiding the therefore “semi-superior” ovary, glabrous. Mature fruit 8--12 mm, green, basal ¼-1/3 concealed by hypanthium 2--4 mm, epicarp and mesocarp breaking regularly with and initially adhering to endocarp, later separating, columnella present with 3 irregular wings 2—3.5 x 2--3 mm. Seeds (rarely fully developed in material examined) 4.5--6 mm, obovoid, dull brown, seeds not retained on receptacle after fruit breaks away, aril not seen on seed, sometimes seen on receptacle. Común en bosques húmedos, zona atlántica sur; 40–200 m; fl nov-abr, fr ene–abr (jul); Neill 3327, Stevens 23415; Nicaragua a Panamá. "Pichapán".