Shrub or tree. Young branchlets hollow. Leaves decussate, entire. Stipules lanceolate. Flowers tiny, solitary on short stalks, fascicled in short, condensed and tubercular clusters, bracteolate. Pedicels articulated. Calyx deeply 4-5-lobed. Petals 4-5, obovate rarely elliptic, unguiculate, divided into filamentous appendages at the upper third or half. Stamens 8-10, free. Ovary superior, slightly ridged, at the base connate with the calyx, 4-6-celled, each cell with 3-8 ovules; style simple. Fruit a berry, few-to many-seeded, globose, sometimes oblong, much wrinkled when dry. Seeds with fleshy endosperm; embryo linear, axile.
Home