[citation needed] Francisco Manuel Blanco, the Augustinian friar who first formally described the species, using the basionym Gordonia polysperma, named it after its many seeds (Latinized form of Greek σπέρμα, spérma).

Its leaves are narrow and tapering with serrated margins and are almost hairless.

Its flowers have a calyx with 5 oval-shaped sepals fused at their base.

Its fertilized ovaries have chambers, each containing numerous seeds.

[3][4] The pollen of Saurauia polysperma is shed as permanent tetrads.