Trees buttressed. Stipules minute, caducous. Leaves once-pinnate and (1-) 2-(or 3-) jugate, or bipinnate with 1-3 pairs of pinnae, each pinna with 1-6-pairs of leaflets. Leaflets opposite or subopposite, pellucid-punctate. Inflorescences axillary and/or terminal, racemose, simple or fascicled, or paniculate; bracts persistent beyond anthesis; bracteoles absent at anthesis. Flowers bisexual, calyx and corolla pellucid-glandular. Hypanthium obscure or absent. Calyx shortly campanulate, 5-lobed. Petals 5, widely imbricate, shortly connate at the base. Disk absent, except in one species (S. schmutzii). Stamens 10, alternatively long and short, free of one another, adnate with petals at the base, glabrous; anthers dorsifixed, introrse, ellipsoid or oblong, with a large, dorsal, dark brown connective, and a deciduous gland at apex. Ovary sessile or stipitate, free, mostly spindle-shaped, hairy, 2-6-ovuled; style tortuous or straight; stigma small. Pods becoming distinctly woody, dehiscent and two-valved, compressed, prominently veined, 1-4-seeded. Seeds orbicular to broadly ellipsoid, compressed but thick, large (3-3.5 cm in diam.), with a hard-coriaceous testa; 2 massive cotyledons; exalbuminous.
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