Myristica is the source of nutmeg, Virola is a timberwood and also the source of an indigenous hallucinogenic snuff throughout Amazonia. Unisexual and often dioecious, small .
Inflorescence is axillary or terminal cymes or racemes.
A with filaments united in a column and anther opening in one longitudinal slit. A fleshy berry dehiscing along two sutures. Seed with an aril and endosperm. Habit is as trees, rarely as shrubs. Leaves are simple, entire, alt.