Trees or large shrubs; leaves opposite or whorled, pinnately compound, without a terminal leaflet, the leaflets several to many, alternate or frequently opposite, serrate or entire, lepidote beneath at least on the youngest leaves; pith of branchlets solid; flowers monoecious or partially dioecious, the inflorescence terminal, consisting usually of an androgynous open or spike-like panicle, the main portion pistillate, with 30-50 flowers, bearing near the base usually 2-4 lateral short or elongate branches, these staminate, the staminate catkins sometimes forming a separate terminal panicle on different branches or on different trees; bracts of the staminate flowers minute, 3-lobed, beneath the calyx, the 2 bracteoles and 2-4 variable sepals together appearing as an irregular 4-6 lobed calyx, the lobes oblong, obtuse; stamens 6-12, inserted in a single series around a naked center or rarely around a rudimentary ovary, the filaments almost obsolete; anthers 2-celled, glabrous, dehiscent by longitudinal slits; pistillate flowers sessile, subtended by a minute 3-lobed bract shorter than the ovary; perianth deeply 4-lobed, the lobes oblong-linear, unequal, obtuse, erect, persistent upon the apex of the fruit; style shorter than the perianth lobes, bifurcate, the stigmas subglobose; fruit oval or obovoid, small, 2-3 cm. long, the skin ("pericarp" or "exocarp") almost dry, thin, indehis-cent, adhering closely to the nut proper ("endocarp"); nut thin-walled, loculi-cidally dehiscent at time of germination of the seed, falsely 8-celled in the lower half, 4-celled above the middle, 1-celled at the very apex, the partitions nearly complete, with lamellae projecting from them into the loculus; seed 8-lobed to the base, each cotyledon 4-lobed.
Home