Trees or shrubs; dioecious; lepidote indumentum on all parts (except in H. ferruginea). Leaves alternate, entire; petiolate; stipules small or large, deciduous. Inflorescences axillary, racemose (sometimes almost spicate), usually aggregated into panicles; bracts inconspicuous; flowers with calyx a shallowly lobed cup; apetalous; disc well developed. Staminate flowers on very short pedicels; disc a rather massive cup, subentire or variously lobed; stamens 3-6, inserted within the disc, the filaments free, projecting beyond the calyx at anthesis, the anthers with an enlarged connective, introrse in the bud, the two anther-sacs pendant and divergent at anthesis, dehiscing longitudinally; pollen grains prolate, 3-colporate, psilate. Pistillate flowers shortly pedicellate; disc cupuliform, subentire, more tenuous than in the male; ovary ovoid, lepidote, the styles very short or not developed, the bifid punctiform stigmata sessile, the carpels 2 with 2 ovules per locule. Fruits drupaceous, thin-walled, 1-celled, usually 1-seeded; seeds not carunculate, endo-sperm present, the cotyledons broader than the radicle, plane.
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