They have rounded bases and tapering apexes; the upper sides are bare but the undersides are densely felted with brown or grey hairs.

The individual flowers are bisexual, with five pinkish petals, and are followed by drupes, some 6 by 4 cm (2.4 by 1.6 in), with fleshy pulp, which ripen to a yellowish or reddish-brown colour and contain large, hard stones.

In Central and South America, its range extends from Costa Rica southward and eastward to Bolivia, Peru and Brazil.

It sometimes springs up in clear-felled areas, often in patches growing from seeds or root suckers, and may come to dominate parts of regenerating secondary forest.

[2] The fruits are attractive to elephants, which disperse the seeds in their dung; the tree does not regenerate well in mature forest, but does so in clearings and alongside tracks.