Shrubs or trees, evergreen, perennial, dioecious; stems and foliage without latex. Indumentum of simple, multicellular trichomes, glandular trichomes absent, stinging trichomes absent. Stipules entire, inconspicuous, deciduous. Leaves alternate, petiolate, elobate, penninerved, entire or crenate to serrate, glandular below. Inflorescences axillary, spicate, solitary, unisexual with flowers in bracteate glomerules. Male flowers pedicellate; calyx lobes 2 or 3, valvate, ± equal; petals absent; disc absent; stamens 24, rarely fewer, filaments free and attached to slightly raised receptacle; anthers dorsifixed, bilobate, thecae oblong and longitudinally dehiscent; pistillodes absent. Female flowers pedicellate; calyx lobes 5, valvate; petals absent; disc absent; ovary 3-locular, ovules uniloculate; styles free or slightly connate at base, bifid. Fruit capsular, trilobate, surface smooth, dehiscing septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci. Seeds ± globose; testa crustaceous; albumen fleshy; ecarunculate; cotyledons broad, flat.
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