Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs or small trees.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple or compound (pinnate). Alternate. Surfaces glandular punctate and usually with viscid exudate. Petiolate. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in axillary or terminal, paniculate or racemose inflorescences or solitary, pedicellate. Flowers bisexual (perfect) or unisexual (and then plants dioecious, monoecious, or polygamous), actinomorphic. Calyx deeply 3–5-lobed, the lobes valvate. Corolla (petals) absent. Stamens 4–12, absent, or represented by staminodes in pistillate flowers; filaments short, glabrous; anthers large, apiculate. Ovary superior, subglobose, angled or compressed, 2–3(4)-celled; ovules 2 per cell, ovary rudimentary in staminate flowers; style filiform.

Fruit: Turgid to inflated or compressed capsules. Seeds 1–2 per cell; aril absent.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range: