Flowers arranged in a many-flowered subcorymbose terminal or subterminal panicle composed of several dichotomously branched cymes from the axis of the upper leaves or of minute caducous bracts.

Petals hypogynous, in a single row on the slightly convex receptacle, oblong, concave, rounded at the extremity, fleshy, twice the length of the sepals, white or rose-colored.

Stamens about twenty, hypogynous, the filaments connate into a tube crenulate at the summit, and slightly extended above the linear anthers, which are adnate to its outer face, and longitudinally two-valved.

[6] The wood of Canella is very heavy and exceedingly hard, strong, and close-grained, with numerous thin, inconspicuous medullary rays; it is dark red-brown, and the thick sapwood consists of 25 to 30 layers of annual growth, light brown or yellow in color.

The leaves are obovate, round or slightly emarginate at the apex, and contracted into a short, stout, grooved petiole; they are 3.5-5.0 in long, 1.5-2.0 in broad, bright deep green, and lustrous.

It generally grows under the shade of larger trees in dense forests composed of Sideroxylon, Lysiloma, Swietenia, Bursera, Hypelate, Dipholis, and Nectandra.