Trees, deciduous. Branchlets never spinose, never corky or winged. Stipules 2, free, linear-lanceolate, caducous, leaving a short transverse scar on each side of leaf base. Leaves distichous, margin serrate to crenate; venation pinnate; secondary veins extending to margin, each ending in a tooth. Flowers appearing at same time as leaves, polygamous. Male flowers: clustered in proximal leaf axil of young branchlets. Perianth campanulate, 4-6(or 7)-lobed. Stamens equal in number to perianth lobes; filaments short, erect. Female and bisexual flowers: usually solitary or rarely 2-4-clustered in distal leaf axil of young branchlets. Perianth 4-6-parted, tepals imbricate. Staminodes absent or rarely developed. Ovary sessile; ovule pendulous, slightly amphitropous. Style excentric. Drupes oblique, dorsally keeled; endocarp hard; perianth persistent; stigmas beak-shaped. Seed slightly compressed, apex concave; endosperm absent; embryo curved; cotyledons broad, apically slightly notched to 2-lobed. 2n = 28.
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