Daphniphyllum Blume

Trees or shrubs, evergreen, dioecious. Leaves simple, alternate, fasciculate, rarely opposite, subverticillate to verticillate, rarely dimorphic, estipulate; blades elliptic, oblong, obovate to ovate, frequently falcate or oblique, rounded, mucronate, acute to acuminate at apex, rounded, obtuse, acute to cuneate at base, margins entire or revolute, infrequently dentate near the apex, chartaceous, membranous to coriaceous, green or yellow on both surfaces, sometimes shining above, usually glaucous and papillate beneath, midrib frequently impressed above, prominent or not so beneath. Inflorescences axillary, rarely subterminal, racemiform, axes angulate, terete or flat, sometimes flexuous; pedicels angulate or flat, rarely pendent; bracts at the base of the inflorescences in 1-several whorls, imbricate, ovate, triangular or linear-ovate or elliptic, usually caducous, sometimes larger than the flower. Flowers unisexual. Calyx none, or when present 3-6-lobed, with imbricate aestivation, campanulate, cupulate or completely divided when mature, lobes variable in size, shape and margin, rarely larger than the androecium or gynoecium, sometimes articulate, caducous or persistent. Corolla absent. Stamens in staminate flowers 5-14, free or coherent at apex, subsessile or with long filaments, anthers lunate, oblong, oblong-elliptic, elliptic, broadly elliptic to ovate, compressed or oblique, apex apiculate, triangular, obtuse to emarginate or beaked; staminodia frequently present, rarely articulate, pistillodes rarely present. Ovary in pistillate flowers globose to elliptic-globose, imperfectly 2(-4)-septate; each carpel with (l or) 2 anatropous ovules; placentation suspended or subapical; staminodia on the ovary usually present; style with l-2(-4) lobes, usually shorter than the ovary, stigmas divaricate, revolute, discoid to circinnate or versatile. Drupes obovoid, elliptic-globose, ovoid to ellipsoid, apex obtuse, base round to obtuse, rarely suddenly constricted at base, shining, smooth, rugose to tuberculate, staminodia frequently persistent, styles usually persistent. Seed 1 (or 2), various in shape and size; germination epigeous; cotyledons two. Chromosome number 2n = 32 (Huang 1965). Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Fig. 8.