False coffee

Faramea occidentalis, sometimes called false coffee or huesito, is an evergreen understory shrub or small tree of the Rubiaceae, reaching 2-10 m tall. Its range extends from southern Mexico through Central America, the Antilles, and tropical South America to Bolivia and Brazil, where it is a common element of lowland and lower-montane moist forests. The leaves are opposite, simple, elliptic to oblanceolate, 6-20 cm long, with entire margins, glabrous surfaces, and an interpetiolar stipule typical of the family. Inflorescences are short-stalked terminal or axillary cymes bearing fragrant, salverform white flowers with a slender corolla tube 1-2 cm long and four spreading lobes. The fruit is a small bluish-black to violet drupe about 8-10 mm in diameter containing a single seed, dispersed primarily by birds. The species is best known to ecologists for its highly synchronized, mast-fruiting reproductive cycles on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.