Rather small, unarmed, woody climbers, rarely shrubs. Branches lenticellate. Leaves simple, acuminate, rather large, often with minute, whitish pustules along the midrib, finely pellucid-dotted; petiole incrassate at the apex. Racemes or panicles ∞-flowered, axillary or terminal, with caducous bracts. Pedicels short. Sepals mostly 6, in two whorls of 3, valvate, at the top of the bud the outer sepals covering the margins of the inner ones, more or less strap-shaped, densely fulvous-tomentose on both sides, inserted on the margin of a widened, dish-shaped, persistent torus. Corolla absent. Stamens on a short, ± cylindrical androgynophore, 20-50(-c. 100), unequal, the outer ones shortest, about as long as the sepals. Gynophore about equalling the filaments. Ovary subglobular, 3-celled, with 3 axillary placentas each bearing 5-8(-10) ovules; style simple or split into three arms. Fruits few, on a thick woody stalk, ellipsoid, 2.5-5 cm long, sometimes with small persistent style, finally more or less lenticellate. Seed 1, large, embedded in pulp, with a thin testa; cotyledons unequal, one enclosing the other.