The leaves are closely clustered along the stem, obovate to sometimes elliptic, and small, often shorter than the spines. Corolla 0.5-1 cm long; fruit small, white.

Adams (1975) cited this species also from Antigua and Liogier (1997) cited it from Guadeloupe, but Howard (1989) treated those plants as Catesbaea melanocarpa. Liogier's flora (1997) included Catesbaea melanocarpa and cited it from those two islands, and his flora also treated Catesbaea parviflora and the citation of this species from the same additional islands may be due to incomplete editing from an earlier manuscript. The separation of Catesbaea melanocarpa from Catesbaea parviflora is diagnosed mainly by color and small size differences of the fruits, and has sometimes been considered problematic; Howard himself strongly recommended field study of this, but he also in his discussion confused Catesbaea melanocarpa with other, distinct Catesbaea species in Hispaniola so his analysis may have been incomplete. Catesbaea parviflora is also similar to Catesbaea foliosa, and those probably deserve further field evaluation.

Liogier (1995) did not report Catesbaea parviflora from Hispaniola, which is notable given the range of that species in the adjoining Bahamas, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Catesbaea parviflora is also similar in general to Catesbaea glabra and Catesbaea parvifolia, for which the fruit color is unkonw, and these species and also perhaps should be studied.