Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or subopposite, petiolate, exstipulate; leaf blade simple, turning black when dry, leathery or membranous, margin entire or ± dentate, apex acuminate. Bracts 3. Flowers fragrant. Calyx tube fused to ovary; lobes 4, persistent. Petals 4, reflexed by anthesis, yellow-white or green, oblong to linear, valvate, both surfaces pubescent. Stamens 4; anthers basifixed, oblong; filaments hairy. Ovary inferior, 1-loculed; placentation lateral; ovules numerous. Style cylindric; stigma simple. Fruit a 1-seeded berry.

About 60 species: SE Asia, Australia; one species in China.

(Authors: Jin Shuying ; Hideaki Ohba)