[1][4][5] Trema micranthrum is a shrub or small tree up to 10 m (33 ft) tall.

Leaves are egg-shaped, up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long, green on top but covered with white, woolly pubescence underneath.

[4][6][7] Following the recent local extirpation of slow-growing xalama in San Pablito, Mexico due to unsustainable harvesting driven by tourism, the Otomi people now use T. micranthum bark strips as a raw material for making handmade amate paper.

[8] Claims have been made that T. micranthum may contain cannabidiol,[9] a non-psychoactive but medicinally useful component known from Cannabis.

[11] Also, a more recent publication did not provide conclusive evidence, e.g. in the form of fragmentation spectra or the analysis of isolated compounds by NMR.