Shrubs or trees. Stipules caducous. Leaves simple, opposite or subopposite.
coriaceous or subcoriaceous, entire or crenulate. Inflorescence axillary or extra
axillary peduncled cymes. Flowers bisexual, 4-5-merous. Calyx lobes imbricate.
Petals imbricate, spreading. Stamens inserted on or slightly under the outer
margin of the disc; filaments subulate; anthers subglobose or deltoid, versatile,
introrse. Gynoecium short, conical or more or less flask shaped, base slightly
united with the disc or partly immersed in it. Ovary 2-loculed; style very short;
stigmas obscure or slightly 2-lobed; ovules 2 in each locule, erect, attached
at the base. Disc orbicular or lobed, flat, fleshy. Fruits a drupe, indehiscent,
1-2 loculed; exocarps thin or fleshy; endocarps leathery or mostly stony. Seeds
1-2, exarillate.
Mostly in Africa but widely distributed in the tropics of both the
hemispheres; ca 80 species, 4 in India.
Literature.
DING HOU (1962) in Fl. Males. 1.
6(2): 284.
