Shrub or treelet, probably dioecious. Leaves alternate, ± distichous, penni-nerved. Stipules subulate, mostly early caducous. Flowers arranged in long, slender, axillary or subterminal or cauline, interrupted spikes, surrounded at the base by a persistent cup formed by a bract and 2 bracteoles as in Osmelia. Calyx-tube very short, with 4 distinctly imbricate lobes (sepals). ♂ Flowers (seen in bud only): stamens apparently 8, 4 of them slightly longer. Staminodes and rudiment of the ovary apparently present. ♀ Flowers: stamens 8, reduced as in Osmelia. Staminodes 4, episepalous, scale-like, thick-fleshy, subquadrate, irregularly erose at the top, deeply bifid, hairy. Ovary nearly cylindrical, sessile, hairy, with 3 many-ovuled placentas. Styles 3, divergent, each bearing a large, bilobed stigma. Capsule fusiform, with 3 short, thick styles, each with a sessile, obscurely bilobed stigma, subtended at the base by 4 subpersistent sepals; pericarp coriaceous; peduncle very short. Seeds numerous; testa smooth, thin; aril membranous. Endosperm abundant, albuminous-oily; cotyledons flat, cordate.
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