Glabrous shrub, usually 1-1.5 m tall. Petioles 5-10 mm long near apex of plant, to 3.3 cm long below; blades lanceolate-elliptic, sharply and narrowly acuminate at apex, mostly subequilaterally acute at base, somewhat decurrent, 10-19 cm long, 2.5-6 cm wide, the major lateral veins 6-10 pairs, extending to apex, often weakly loop-connected, glabrous or sparsely pubescent beneath, drying with glandular dots. Spikes 3-9 cm long; peduncles very slender, 7-20 mm long, glabrate to puberulent; bracts peltate, triangular, sparsely short-ciliate. Fruits bluntly trigonous, +/- granular-papillate, truncate and concave at apex; stigmas 3, short, strap-shaped, often persisting in fruit. Croat 14574. Occasional, apparently preferring moist areas of gulleys. Seasonal behavior uncertain. Inflorescences develop during the late rainy season and flower mostly in the dry season. The fruits probably mature in the early rainy season. Shorter plants may be confused with P. darienense, but have longer petioles and short-ciliolate bracts. The species is perhaps most easily confused with P. perlasense, but that species lacks the dark glandular dots and has leaf blades more prominently inequilateral with one side obtuse or rounded. It may also be confused with P. cordulatum but differs in having prominent reticulate veins on fresh leaves and glandular dots on dried leaves. Nicaragua to Colombia; Trinidad; usually less than 500 m elevation. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Herrera, Panama, and Darien and from premontane wet forest in Panama (Chimán).