[1] Glochidion marianum is a small shrubby tree, rarely up to 5 metres (16 ft), with trunks seldom over 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) diameter.

Glochidion marianum is noted to favor abandoned clearings and edges, as well as the open savannas of southern Guam, although it can also be found in the understory of the limestone forest.

Several species of insect have been recovered on Guam only from Glochidion marianum, mostly from collections before World War II: Other insects endemic to the Mariana Islands that have been observed on Glochidion marianum on Guam include: a fungus weevil (Notioxenus fulgidus), a leaf beetle (Phytorus lineolatus), a bee (Halictus swezeyi), a bird grasshopper (Valanga excavata),[14] a leafhopper (Tartessus swezeyi),[13] a chalcid wasp (Cirrospiloideus guamensis),[15] a true weevil (Trigonops inaequalis)[11], a jewel bug (Calliphara munda),,[16] a sap beetle (Haptognathus minutus),[17] a spittlebug (Lallemandana phalerata)[18][19] [author's observations], and two capsid bugs (Aretas signatus and Aretas bifasciatus).

Edwin Safford wrote in 1905 that Glochidion marianum was used by the Chamorros of Guam to make cart shafts, as the wood is very strong.

[24] The French botanist, Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré, extensively catalogued the flora of Guam during the 1819 expedition lead by Louis de Freycinet.

It was first described in the scientific literature as Glochidion marianum in 1863 in the journal Linnaea, by Johannes Müller Argoviensis, the conservator of the de Candolle herbarium.

The more general term for Glochidion species on Palau is ngolm, iodel, or kesengelengolm; on Chuuk is afor or amoses; and on Yap is ngumal or ngumol.