Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs to large trees.

Stems: Watery sap.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Pinnately veined. Petioles short. Stipules present.

Flowers: Flowers in axillary clusters. Flowers unisexual (and the plants dioecious or rarely monoecious), actinomorphic. Calyx of 4–7 sepals; sepals imbricate. Corolla (petals) absent. Stamens (3)4–7, alternate with the lobes of floral disk, staminodes absent in pistillate flowers; filaments distinct. Ovary superior, on a hypogynous disk, (2)3(4)-carpellate; ovules 2 per cell, hemitropous, pistillode present in staminate flowers; styles distinct and 2-lobed or stigmas sessile.

Fruit: Capsules or berry; indehiscent. Seeds 2 per cell.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range: