Lianas, the branches and branchlets opposite or alternate, subterete, sparsely lenticellate. Leaves opposite, petiolate, the blade scabrous. Inflorescences axillary toward the apex of branchlets, pedunculate, paniculate or pseudocymose; fruiting inflorescences greatly enlarged. Flowers hermaphrodite, loosely arranged toward the apex of ultimate branchlets, comparatively large for the family, pedicellate; sepals 5, essentially deltoid, often accrescent; petals 5, unguiculate; disc annular-pulvinate, conspicuously flattened, carnose, puberulus except near the entire margin; stamens 3, inserted at the junction of the disc and the ovary, usually spreading, the filaments ligulate, slightly broadened at the base, the anthers transversely ellipsoid, the thecae subglobose and laterally confluent, dehiscing by apical, transversal, confluent clefts; ovary immersed in the disc, depressed and sharply trigonous, conspicuously puberu-lus. 3-celled, each cell 8-to 10-ovulate, the ovules 2-seriate; style subulate, obtuse, carnose, the stigmas obscure. Fruits few per inflorescence, of 3 capsular mericarps, these divergent, separately attached to a swollen receptacle, obovate or obdeltoid, slightly convex on both surfaces, rounded at margins, bluntly carinate and dehiscing along a median suture, the pericarp coriaceous; seeds 8-10 per mericarp, affixed by a well-developed, membranous, basal wing.
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Lianas or shrubs; bark with red juice; branches (sub)opposite or alternate, branchlets often scabrous with sparse, rigid, short hairs, angled and subterete, almost at right angles with the main branch. Leaves scabrous. Petioles glabrescent, sparsely scabrous. Inflorescences axillary towards the apex of branches, paniculate or pseudo-cymose, pedunculate, scabrous, tomentose. Flowers tomentellous, rather large for the family; calyx campanulate, glabrescent with 5 sepals; petals 5, unequal, tomentellous on both sides, margins pectinate-fimbriate; disk fleshy, annular-pulvinate, conspicuously flattened at anthesis into a narrow, marginal flange, covering the bases of the petals; stamens 3, erect, but recurved after anthesis, with ribbon-like filaments, scarcely broadened at the base, anthers transversely ellipsoid, dehiscing by an extrorse, transverse, confluent cleft; ovary depressed and sharply trigonous, immersed in the disk, ovules 8-10 per locule, style fleshy, subulate, stigmas obscure. Fruits consisting of 3, free, divergent mericarps on a swollen receptacle, dehiscing along a median suture; seeds attached by a basal wing, embryoniferous part apical, wing much larger than the embryo.
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