Trees, usually glabrous or with an indumentum of simple hairs. Leaves pinnate;
leaflets opposite, subopposite or alternate, elliptic, oblique at base, acuminate at apex,
coriaceous. Flowers bisexual or unisexual (trees dioecious), in axillary panicles, racemes
or spikes, occasionally rami-or cauliflorous, sometimes subtended by several imbricate
bracts. Calyx usually shallowly or deeply 4 -
5-lobed or sepals free, spreading, valvate
or imbricate. Petals 4 -
5, spreading, valate or imbricate, free but sometimes fused to
lower or upper half of staminal tube. Staminal tube cylindric, entire at margin, crenate,
irregularly toothed or terminated by 6 -
10 simple or 2-lobed appendages; anthers 6, 8
or 10, short, included or half-exserted, glabrous, rarely hairy, alternating with append-
ages. Disk tubular or cup-shaped, crenulate along margin or lobed, free. Ovary 2 - 5-locular; locules 1 -
2-ovuled; style about as long as staminal tube; stigma discoid or
capitate. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, 2 -
5-valved; locules 1 -
2-seeded; seeds arillate or
not, nonendospermous.
Indo-Malesian region eastwards to Australia, New Guinea, Polynesia and New Zealand with ca 60 species; 16 in India.
10a. Tertiary nerves in leaflets prominent; racemes to 25 cm long; flowers to 7 mm long; capsules 5 - 6.5 cm across, verrucose with longitudinal ridges
