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Trees; branchlets pubescent to subglabrous. Leaves alternate, leathery, glabrous, venation pinnate. Inflorescence axillary, on short shoots, in clusters of c. 5 flowers, subtended by an involucre of persistent bracts. Flowers unisexual (sexes on different plants), 2-merous; perianth segments in 2 whorls of 2; receptacle flat or shallow. Male flowers with 8–30 stamens, in 3 whorls; staminodes absent; anthers 2-locular, dehiscing introrsely. Female flowers with c. 4 staminodes; ovary superior. Fruit ovoid, receptacle hardly enlarged, forming a small cupule, perianth deciduous.
Dioecious or occasionally ☿ trees with several trunks, or large shrubs, aromatic, evergreen. Lvs with pinnate venation. Fls in axillary umbels enclosed by a globose involucre of bracts in bud. Perianth with 4 subequal segments, not accrescent or forming a tube enclosing fr. Stamens usually 12 in 3-4 whorls; filaments each with a stipitate gland on each side, rarely stamens of outermost 2 rows eglandular; anthers 2-valved, introrse. ♀ fls often with 4 staminodes. Style short. Fr. a berry, seated on scarcely enlarged calyx tube; skin single-layered.
