A version of the following information has been submitted to be published in an upcoming volume of The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants , Dillon, M.O. xxxx. Springer Verlag, Berlin. Evergreen, dioecious trees, shrubs, or lianas. Stems erect to scandent or climbing, or occasionally epiphytic, glabrous to hispidulose, rarely winged.
Petioles rugulose, glabrous or hispidulose, exstipulate, the bases dilated and subsheathing.
Inflorescences racemose to paniculate, terminal or axillary, subglabrous to hispidulose or glandular, drying nigrescent. Sepals squamellate, margins ciliolate to glabrous, caducous. Petals 5, free, occasionally absent, subimbricate, oblong to ovate, reflexed at anthesis, caducous, margins ciliolate to glabrous. Stamens 5, antisepalous, the filaments erect, attached outside of lobulate epigynous disc. Anthers bilocular, dorsifixed, dehiscence longitudinal.