Deciduous trees; branchlets usually armed with single or paired straight axillary spines, occasionally unarmed. Leaves trifoliolate, thick and coriaceous, subcrenulate, glandular punctate. Inflorescence of short axillary panicles. Flowers bisexual. Calyx 5-lobed, persistent. Petals 5, oblong, imbricate in bud. Stamens 8–10; filaments subulate; anthers sagittate. Disk present, annular. Ovary ovoid, 5–8-locular; ovules many and in 2 series per locule; style short, cylindric-conical. Fruit large and pepo-like, ovoid-globose, with a hard shell and indehiscent, 5–8-locular, each locule many-seeded. Seeds semi-ellipsoid, compressed; testa coriaceous; endosperm lacking.
Home