Heteropyxidaceae - Lavender tree family

Aromatic trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple, with translucent gland-dots all over the lamina. Flowers unisexual by abortion, actinomorphic, yellowish, sweet-scented. Male flowers: petals 4(-5), free, gland-dotted; stamens (5-)7-8(-10) (in ours), much larger than the vestigial female organ. Female flowers: perianth as in male; staminodes (4-)5-8, minute, much shorter than the style; ovary superior, 2(3)-locular, gland-dotted; style with a large capitate stigma. Fruit a 2(-3)-valved capsule. Seeds slightly curved, the outer ones winged at both ends.

Worldwide: 3 species in Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa

Malawi: 1 genus and 2 taxa.