Dioecious shrubs and trees, branching rather frequently for the family, the trunk becoming very thick. Leaves palmately compound, with 3-12 petiolulate, entire or undulate leaflets. Inflorescences in the axils of the uppermost leaves, thyrsiflorous, the staminate extensive and many flowered, the pistillate reduced and with few larger flowers. Calyx 5-lobed, inconspicuous. Corolla salverform or narrowly infundibuliform, the limb 5-lobed, antesepalous. Stamens 10, the fila-ments and connectives more or less conspicuously petaloid. Ovary 5-celled, containing numerous ovules on axile placentas. Berry usually rather elongate, 5-celled.
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