Stems solitary, erect, robust, unarmed, smooth. Leaves: leaf bases not completely tubular, forming partial crownshaft, unarmed; petiole unarmed; blade pinnate; plication reduplicate; segments irregularly spaced along unarmed rachis, in multiple planes, linear-lanceolate; apices acute. Inflorescences axillary within leafy crown, ascending, becoming pendulous in fruit, with 4 orders of branching; prophyll small, tubular, leathery; peduncular bracts 2, tubular, enclosing most of peduncle, leathery. Flowers bisexual (distal flowers with reduced gynoecia), borne singly along rachillae on pedicel-like stalks, subtended by minute bract; sepals 3, connate, forming shallow triangular calyx; petals 3, ovate, basally slightly connate, persistent in fruit; stamens 6, basally adnate to corolla; filaments linear; anthers dorsifixed; pistils 1, 3-loculate; ovules 1 per locule; styles indistinct; stigmas minute. Fruits drupes, globose, or 2-or 3-lobed if more than 1 ovule matures; stigmatic scar basal or in 3-lobed fruits, apical; exocarp red, smooth; mesocarp fleshy; endocarp bony. Seeds 1--3, globose; endosperm homogeneous; embryo basal; eophyll undivided, lanceolate. xn = 17.
Home