Cyanea lobata subsp. baldwinii is a shrub standing 1.3-2.3 m tall with sparingly branched, smooth, or sparsely muricate stems. The leaves are oblong to obovate, measuring 30-50 cm long and 10-15 cm across the lobes. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous, while the lower surface is sparsely pubescent or muricate along the midrib and veins. The leaves have an acuminate apex and irregularly lobed margins with 12-25 deltate to triangular lobes per side. The flowers are bisexual (perfect) and arranged in inflorescences of 5–12 flowers, axillary, with peduncles 30–75 mm long and pedicels 18–35 mm long. The hypanthium is obconical, 8–12 mm long, and 3–6 mm wide. The calyx lobes are 10–15 mm long and 2.4–4 mm wide, narrowly oblong or narrowly triangular. The corolla is zygomatic, greenish-white or purplish, 60–70 mm long, and 5–11 mm wide, pubescent at least on the lobes, with an arcuate tube dorsally cleft to about the middle, and lobes spreading ¼–½ as long as the tube. The dorsal anthers are 12-13.5 mm long. The ovary is inferior and 2-celled, with ovule placentation axile. The stigma is 2-lobed, wet or dry, appressed, and nonreceptive as the style grows through the anther tube, pushing out the pollen, after which the stigmas spread apart and become receptive. The fruit is a yellow, globose berry. The seeds are numerous, small, brown to black, smooth, shiny, and 0.6–0.7 mm long, with a straight, short to spatulate dicotyledonous embryo embedded in oily endosperm. It is found in mesic lowland forests and wet forests at 550 – 900 meters.