Cephalocroton Hochst.

Monoecious shrubs or subshrubs with a stellate indumentum. Leaves alternate or rarely subopposite or subverticillate, simple, entire or toothed, 3–5-nerved from the base, petiolate or subsessile, stipulate, the stipules laciniate (E. Africa) or entire. Inflorescences terminal, racemose, androgynous, protogynous, with the ♂ flowers in fascicles aggregated into a dense globular terminal head, and with (0–)1–6 ♀ flowers at the base, sweetly scented; bracts small to minute, entire or laciniate. Male flowers: calyx globose in bud, 3–4-lobed, the lobes valvate; petals 0; disc 0; stamens (4–)6–8(–10), uni-(not E. Africa) or biseriate, the filaments free, inflexed or not in bud, the anthers dorsifixed, longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode entire or lobed. Female flowers: sepals 4–6, slightly imbricate, free or united at the base, entire, pinnatifid or bipinnatipartite, the segments gland-tipped or not, persistent, accrescent or not; disc annular, subentire; ovary 3-locular, with 1 ovule per locule; styles free or connate at the base, multifid-laciniate. Fruits 3-lobed, dehiscing septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci; endocarp woody. Seeds smooth, ovoid-subglobose, evenly greyish or marbled, ecarunculate, with a crustaceous testa and fleshy albumen; cotyledons broad, flat.