Trees or shrubs, monoecious; indumentum of tiny stellate hairs. Leaves alternate, sometimes grouped into whorls; stipules small; leaf blade with 2 basal glands; venation pinnate. Inflorescences terminal or subterminal, panicles of clustered spikes, large and showy, bisexual, lower bracts sterile, male flowers in distal clusters, female flowers few, solitary. Male flowers subsessile; calyx lobes 2-6, valvate; petals absent; disk absent; stamens 4-15; filaments free; anthers 2-locular, subbasifixed; pistillode columnar or turbinate. Female flowers long pedicellate; epicalyx present, lobes small, alternating with sepals, bases sometimes with 2 glands; sepals 5 or 6, valvate, sometimes accrescent; petals absent; disk absent; ovary 3-locular; styles partly connate into a column, arms spreading, 2-lobed, papillose. Fruit a capsule, 3-locular, tomentulose. Seeds subglobose, smooth, marbled; caruncle and aril absent.
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