Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, rarely subopposite or opposite. Cymes arranged in lax or dense panicles, ebracteate, terminal or axillary. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, actinomorphic. Calyx tubular or ± campanulate, usually splitting irregularly, 3-5-toothed, usually accrescent and cup-shaped in fruit. Corolla 4-5(-7)-lobed, funnel-shaped to salver-shaped, white or yellowish. Ovary 4-locular (abortive in male flowers). Style terminal, twice 2-fid with 4 slender or clavate, stigmas. Fruit
drupaceous, partially or wholly surrounded by the enlarged persistent calyx. Derivation of name: after Valerius Cordus, 1515-1544, German physician and botanist. Worldwide: c.320 species, tropical. Malawi: 6 taxa. The larvae of the following species of insect eat species of this genus: |
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