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Shrubs to tall trees , evergreen or rarely deciduous ( Cassytha a parasitic vine with leaves reduced to scales), usually aromatic. Leaves alternate, rarely whorled or opposite, simple, without stipules, petiolate. Leaf blade: unlobed (unlobed or lobed in Sassafras ), margins entire, occasionally with domatia (crevices or hollows serving as lodging for mites) in axils of main lateral veins (in Cinnamomum ). Inflorescences in axils of leaves or deciduous bracts, panicles (rarely heads), racemes, compound cymes, or pseudoumbels (spikes in Cassytha ), sometimes enclosed by decussate bracts. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, bisexual only, or staminate and pistillate on different plants, or staminate and bisexual on some plants, pistillate and bisexual on others; flowers usually yellow to greenish or white, rarely reddish; hypanthium well developed, resembling calyx tube, tepals and stamens perigynous; tepals 6(-9), in 2(-3) whorls of 3, sepaloid, equal or rarely unequal, if unequal then usually outer 3 smaller than inner 3 (occasionally absent in Litsea ); stamens (3-)9(-12), in whorls of 3, but 1 or more whorls frequently staminodial or absent; stamens of 3d whorl with 2 glands near base; anthers 2-or 4-locular, locules opening by valves; pistil 1, 1-carpellate; ovary 1-locular; placentation basal; ovule 1; stigma subsessile, discoid or capitate. Fruits drupes, drupe borne on pedicel with or without persistent tepals at base, or seated in ± deeply cup-shaped receptacle (cupule), or enclosed in accrescent floral tube. Seed 1; endosperm absent.
Evergreen trees, shrubs or parasitic twiners (Cassytha), usually bisexual, sometimes dioecious (Lindera, Litsea, Neolitsea). Leaves reduced to scales (Cassytha), or fully developed, simple, exstipulate, petiolate, minutely oil-dotted; margins usually entire. Inflorescence often paniculate and pseudoterminal, but umbellate and axillary in Lindera, Litsea and Neolitsea, racemose, capitate or spicate in Cassytha. Bracts usually small and inconspicuous, but large and completely enclosing inflorescence in umbellate genera. Flowers actinomorphic, usually 3-merous (occasionally 2 or 4), partly united, usually with 6 segments in 2 whorls, but perianth segments quite distinct in Cassytha. Stamens usually 3–12 per flower, rarely 2 (to 12–20 in Lindera and Litsea), with innermost whorl often reduced to staminodes; anthers basifixed, 2–4-locular, outer whorls introrse, the innermost whorl extrorse (all introrse in Lindera, Litsea and Neolitsea); glands usually attached to filaments of some anthers. Ovary superior, 1-locular; ovule solitary, pendulous; style terminal; stigma usually small. Fruits baccate, sessile (Cassytha), or often on a bare pedicel, but sometimes the perianth persists as a swollen receptacle at base or encloses part or whole of the fruit; mesocarp usually succulent; endocarp usually developed, sometimes thick and hard but often thin and closely associated with testa. Seed solitary; testa thin; cotyledons frequently uniform in texture, sometimes ruminate.
Mostly evergreen trees (often tall with buttresses), shrubs or, in Cassytha, parasitic twiners with scale-like leaves. Leaves simple, alternate or occasionally opposite, entire to slightly undulate or, in about six SPECIES, lobed, usually coriaceous; stipules absent. Flowers usually small, mostly green or yellow, regular, unisexual or hermaphrodite, in cymes, false umbels, heads, spikes, panicles or occasionally solitary; bracts small or absent or, in a few genera, forming an involucre at the base of the inflorescences or partial inflorescences. Perianth-lobes usually ± equal, in 2 whorls of (2-)3, imbricate or in ± one whorl. Stamens and staminodes usually twice as many as perianth-segments, in 4 (rarely more) whorls; innermost whorl and occasionally 2 outer whorls reduced to staminodes; filaments of third whorl usually with 2 ± stalked or sessile glands on either side, the stalk sometimes adnate to the filament, rarely all or none with glands; anthers with 2-4 thecae opening by valves, those of the outer stamens introrse, those of the third series often extrorse. Ovary unicarpellate, sessile, free or in a few genera adhering to the calyx-tube and appearing inferior, 1-locular; ovule 1, pendulous, anatropous. Fruit a 1-seeded berry or dry but indehiscent. Seeds with endosperm; cotyledons large
Stamens usually in 4 whorls inserted in the throat of the receptacle, or at the base of and opposite to the tepals, usually the fourth whorl, and sometimes the third whorl staminodal; filaments usually present and free, ± flattened, varying from very short to much longer than the anthers, those of the inner whorls mostly with a pair of globose glands at the sides or at the base (less often the glands attached to the receptacle, or sometimes the outer stamens with glands at the base); anthers basifixed, 2–4-celled, rarely 1-celled by confluence, cells ± collateral, or superposed (in 4-celled anthers), dehiscing from the base upwards; staminodes tepaloid, sagittate or ligulate
Stamens typically in 4 whorls, often the fourth row suppressed or reduced to staminodes; filaments sometimes glandular at the base, very rarely the glands fused into a disk; anthers continuous with the filament, 2–or 4-valved, cells superposed or more or less collateral, opening from the base upwards by flaps, introrse or sometimes the third whorl extrorse
Leaves alternate, rarely opposite or subopposite, entire, coriaceous, rarely membranaceous, pinnately nerved or 3–5-nerved from near the base, usually net-veined, leaves reduced to small scales in Cassytha; stipules lacking
Perianth (2)3-merous in 2 whorls, not differentiated into calyx and corolla; tepals (4)6(8) free or ± connate, all similar or the outer ones smaller than the inner, imbricate or valvate in bud, deciduous or persistent
Ovary superior, rarely inferior (in Africa, Hypodaphnis), 1-locular; ovule solitary, anatropous from near the apex; style terminal; stigma small, discoid, pointed or unilaterally widened, rarely 2–3-lobed
Inflorescences of cymes or paniculately arranged cymes, racemes or heads; flowers rarely solitary, axillary, usually subterminal; bracts simple, involucrate, deciduous; bracteoles present or lacking
Seed 1; testa membranaceous to coriaceous, sometimes adnate to the pericarp and indistinct; endosperm lacking; embryo straight; radicle superior, cotyledons fleshy, sometimes connate
Evergreen monoecious, or dioecious polygamous trees or shrubs, rarely leafless twining parasitic herbs with haustoria (Cassytha), all parts usually with aromatic oil glands
Fruit baccate or drupaceous, indehiscent, free or ± surrounded by the accrescent receptacle, or completely enclosed within it, often borne on a thickened fruiting pedicel
Flowers small, greenish or yellowish, usually cymose or racemose, hermaphrodite, polygamous or dioecious, actinomorphic
Seed pendulous, without endosperm; testa membranous; embryo straight; cotyledons thick, fleshy; radicle superior
Leaves alternate, rarely opposite or subopposite, coriaceous and evergreen, variously nerved; stipules absent
Receptacle campanulate, cup-shaped or urceolate, rarely oblong, sometimes accrescent after flowering
Flowers hermaphrodite, unisexual by abortion, greenish, yellowish or reddish, actinomorphic
Trees or shrubs, very rarely twining parasitic herbs, all parts with aromatic oil-glands
Calyx usually inferior; tube sometimes enlarging in fruit; lobes usually 6, imbricate
Ovary superior, rarely inferior, 1-celled; style terminal, simple; stigma small
Fruit baccate or drupaceous
Ovule solitary, pendulous
Petals absent
