Unarmed trees or shrubs, deciduous. Leaves simple, with the main nerves terminating in the serrate margin. Stipules free. Inflorescence a terminal, panicle-shaped, compound raceme. Flowers bisexual, 5-merous. Hypanthium obconoid, elongated above the ovary, the free part transversely rupturing after anthesis and falling with sepals and other flower-parts, its inside covered with a disc. Stamens c. 20. Ovary inferior, apex covered by the hypanthial disc, 2-5-, most often 3-celled, styles as many as cells, usually connate at base, ovules 2 per cell. Fruit a pome, exocarp usually lenticellate, mesocarp hard and dry, endocarp thin. Seeds several, testa rather thin, endosperm absent, embryo with flat cotyledons. — Figs, 14e, 15e, 16.
Home