Small shrubs. Adult leaves usually pinnatipartite, sometimes pinnate, simple or little-divided; petiole with sheathing base; secondary venation a fine reticulum. Flowers bisexual, in terminal or axillary spikes, each solitary, subtended by a bract. Perianth tubular, zygomorphic, yellow, opening in upper third to half; adaxial tepal longest and broadest, hooded; lateral 2 falcate; abaxial smallest, usually with a small, reflexed tip. Stamens on short, thick filaments; adaxial sterile; 2 lateral 1-locular; abaxial 2-locular; pollen ejected mechanically. Stigma plate-like or narrow, usually 2-lobed and with a narrow, semitranslucent border, dorsally attached from its base to sterile filament by a narrow column; ovary 1-locular, sessile, in all but 1 species with an apical ring of large, translucent glands; ovule 1. Fruit an obovoid, ellipsoidal or cylindrical, crustaceous nut.
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