This species is characterized by an rather robust tree habit, petiolate, medium-sized (for Simira), ovate to obovate leaves, pyramidal, multiflowered, pedunculate inflorescences, 5-merous flowers, funnelform white corollas with tubes 5--6 mm long, and subglobose to oblate woody capsules ca. 2.5 cm in diameter. The specimens dry with a green to brown or yellowish brown color. Simira aristeguietae may not be distinct from Simira cordifolia of northern Colombia, which differs basically in its 5-merous flowers.