Pet and stamens each 5; carpels (1)2 or 3, the styles distinct; fr a small, trigonous or flattened, berry-like drupe with 2 or 3 pyrenes; perennial herbs, the unbranched stems arising from a deep-seated, thickened or tuber-like root, bearing a single whorl of once palmately compound lvs (these usually 3), and one long-peduncled terminal umbel of white or greenish fls. 8, Asia and N. Amer.