This species is commonly collected and widespread, and perhaps the most commonly collected species in this genus. It is charaterized by its subsessile glomerulate inflorescences, rather small flowers, and leaves without white pannos pubescence. It is similar to some other species that differ in flower size and details, such as Sabicea aspera.
Andersson (1999) separated two varieties in northwestern South America, var. adpressa with appressed leaf pubescence and found in the Pacific drainage, and var. villosa with spreading leaf pubescence outside that region. These populations can be separated in Ecuador and western Colombia, but in Central America the forms are not geographically separated. There var. adpressa is the most common form in Panama, while only var. villosa is found in Nicaragua (Lorence et al., 2012). The pubescence character may denote two separate lineages, as Andersson considered, but the case may be more complicated or this character may be variable. Steyermark also separated a third variety, var. sellowii, which is similar to var. adpressa and was not evaluated by Andersson. This third variety is provisioinally also separated here because it was originally described with an allopatric range, in southeastern Brazil, althoughtSteyermark reported it as disjunct between there and one locality in northern Venezuela, which is adjacent to localities from which he reported var. adpressa.