Shrubs or small trees, reportedly dioecious, young shoots with a perular bud, perular bracts persistent. Leaves alternate, uppermost often clustered at apices of branches; estipulate; petiole mostly elongate, shorter in upper leaves, with a pair of glands at apex only or glands completely absent; leaf blade pinnate-veined, sometimes 3-5-veined from base with lateral veins much weaker than midvein, margin ± coarsely glandular-serrate. Flowers hypogynous, small, unisexual, rarely at least structurally bisexual, in axillary or terminal, paniculate, rarely corymblike or racemelike inflorescences; bracts and bracteoles small, caducous; pedicels articulate. Sepals 3(-5), imbricate, free or joined at base only, small, ciliate, caducous, rarely persistent. Petals absent. Disk glands present, small, dispersed among stamen or staminode bases. Staminate flowers: stamens many; filaments free, filiform, pubescent with long hairs in lower half, rarely glabrous; anthers elliptic, small, dorsifixed, versatile; disk glands many, set between the stamen filament bases, small, short, fleshy, glabrous; abortive ovary small, with 3 short styles. Pistillate flowers: staminodes many, like the stamens but smaller and sterile, filaments less than 1/2 as long as those of staminate flowers, pubescent at base; disk glands many, small, truncate, set between staminode bases; ovary superior, incompletely 3-loculed; placentas 3, each with 2 or 3 ovules; styles 2-4, not or scarcely joined at base, divergent, slender, each dilated at apex into a flattened irregularly branched or lobed stigma, caducous. Berry globose, small, rather dry; style caducous or basal part persistent; pericarp thin, brittle when dried. Seeds 1(-4), yellowish when fresh, blackish when dry, shiny; testa slightly reticulate.
More
Dioecious tree or shrub. Young shoots terminating with a perular bud; perular bracts persistent. Leaves spirally arranged, the uppermost ones crowded, sometimes subopposite, penninerved, ± coarsely glandular-serrate; petiole mostly elongate, very variable in length, in the upper leaves generally much shorter, mostly with a distinct axillary bud. Stipules 0. Panicles axillary or terminal, often much-branched. Flowers small, mostly umbellate at the apex of the stalks of the inflorescence. Bracts minute, lanceolate, caducous. Sepals 3(-4, rarely 5), small, imbricate, ciliate, caducous. Petals 0. Male flowers: stamens indefinite, with numerous, short, fleshy, glabrous disk-glands between them; filaments filiform, woolly to their middle; anthers very small, dorsifixed. Rudiment of ovary minute, with 3 short styles. ♀ Flowers: staminodes indefinite like the stamens, but sterile; filaments less than half as long as in the male flowers, densely pilose at the base; disk-glands numerous, truncate. Ovary incompletely 3-locular, each placenta with 2 (or 3) ovules. Styles 3, divergent, caducous; stigmas shortly 2-lobed. Berry small, rather dry, globose, usually 1-(rarely 2-4)-seeded; pericarp thin, fragile. Seeds blackish, shining; testa minutely reticulate.
Home
