Shrubs or trees, dioecious. Leaves paripinnate, estipulate; rachis and petiole sometimes winged; leaflets often entire. Thyrses compound racemose or sometimes racemose, terminal or axillary; bracts and bracteoles small. Flowers functionally unisexual, actinomorphic. Sepals 5, imbricate, persistent or deciduous. Petals 5, subcuneate, longer than calyx, slightly fleshy, scales absent, apex reflexed, or petals subspatulate, distinctly clawed, adaxially with 2 earlike, thin scales ca. 2 × as long as calyx. Disk small. Stamens (male flowers) 5-8, nearly as long as petals, conduplicate in flower buds; anthers ellipsoid. Ovary (female flowers) globose or ovoid, sessile or shortly stalked, bilaterally compressed, 2(-4)-loculed; ovules 1 or 2 per locule, pendulous; style short or long, twisted. Capsules usually compressed, 2(-4)-loculed, grooved between locules; pericarp papery or crustaceous. Seeds 1 or 2 per locule, ellipsoid or ovoid; testa shiny, thinly crustaceous, often with white or orange fleshy aril; embryo curved, cotyledons fleshy. 2n = 30.

About 26 species: from Sri Lanka and India through SE China and Malesia to Australia; one species in China.