Trees, evergreen, dioecious. Leaves opposite, 1-foliolate. Inflorescences axillary, thyrsiform or racemose. Sepals 4, basally connate. Petals 4, narrowly imbricate or valvate in bud. Stamens 8, distinct, ones opposite sepals nearly as long as petals in both male and female flowers; filaments sublinear, ± incurved, glabrous; anthers apiculate, lacking pollen in female flowers. Gynoecium 4-loculed, rudimentary and minute in male flowers; ovary syncarpous; ovules 2 per locule; style of 4 coherent stylar elements; stigma capitate. Fruit a 4-loculed drupaceous berry; exocarp fleshy; mesocarp undifferentiated; endocarp thinly cartilaginous. Seeds ovoid to reniform; seed coat with thick inner layer of dense black sclerenchyma and spongy outer layer [rarely lacking] bounded externally by a shiny black pellicle; endosperm copious; embryo straight or slightly bent; cotyledons ovate to elliptic, flattened; hypocotyl superior.
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