This species is characterized by its medium-sized elliptic to ovate leaves, stout peduncles, heads with ca.6-15 flowers enclosed by an involucre 5-6 mm long, stout calyx limbs, and rather well developed corollas. The corollas are described as 14-34 mm long in Dominica by Howard (1989), and they are at least generally 6-lobed. Steyermark separated two varieties of this species on Dominica based on the form of the leaf apex; these were synonymized without comment by Howard (1989). The leaf apex form of most Schradera species varies from obtuse to shorty acuminate with a continous range of intermediates, and this variety is not clearly separable nor biologically meaningful.
Schradera exotica is similar to the other Antillean species of the genus, Schradera subsessilis, Schradera involucrata, Schradera cubensis, and Schradera cephalophora. Steyermark (1963) separated Schradera involucrata by its range in Jamaica and 8-merous flowers with 4-locular ovaries, these other species from Schradera exotica based on their smaller corollas, different internal corolla pubescence, and/or filament development.