Shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite. Stipules 3-5-lobed.
Flowers bisexual, heterostylous, (4-)5-merous in terminal corymbs. Calyx tube campanulate, the cupular limb with 5-7 unequal teeth. Corolla white, yellowish or tinged red, tomentose to woolly outside; lobes lanceolate. Ovary with 4-10 loculi; ovules 2-3 per loculus, erect, only 1 maturing, the other remaining attached to the seed. Style divided into 6-8 filiform lobes. Fruits usually red, drupaceous, ± spherical. Seeds flattened. Worldwide: c. 2 species in tropical east Africa and in Madagascar, the Comoro Is and Aldabra. Malawi: 2 taxa. |
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