Shrubs or perennial herbs, dioecious. Leaves alternate to opposite, petiolate, simple, serrate. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, paniculate or racemose. Flowers dimorphic. Male flower subtended by small, linear bract, pedicellate; calyx campanulate, 4-or 5-dentate; petals 4 or 5, oblong to spatulate; stamens 8-10; pistillode present. Female flower subtended by large foliose, membranous bract to which pedicel is adnate; calyx, petals, and staminodes absent; disk annular; style 1, terminal, linear. Fruit lens-shaped, attached to midrib of accrescent, membranous, reticulately veined floral subtending bract.
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