Evergreen shrub. Leaves opposite, petiolate, discolorous; stipules leathery, free, early caducous. Inflorescences terminal, drooping, comprising few-flowered contracted cymose heads surrounded by an involucre of 8–12 large, coriaceous, coloured, decussate, serrulate, persistent bracts. Flowers bisexual, 4 (or 5)-merous. Hypanthium cup-shaped. Sepals erect, persistent. Petals absent. Stamens long and erect, geniculate, conspicuously exserted; anthers versatile. Disc surrounding the ovary, thick, annular, smooth, glabrous. Ovary inferior; carpels 3; style glabrous, shortly branched at apex. Fruit an obovoid or ellipsoid capsule with torus near middle; pyrenes dehiscing by window on inner face. Seeds reddish brown with yellowish aril.
Home