Shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite, petiolate; leaf blade tri- or tripliveined, abaxially usually white glaucous or tomentose. Flowers small, clustered in leaf axils or arranged in cymes or racemes. Bracteoles small, caducous. Hypanthium subglobose, adnate to ovary. Calyx lobes 4, persistent. Petals 4, larger than calyx lobes. Stamens numerous, arranged in many whorls, curved in bud; anthers dorsifixed, versatile, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary inferior, 1-loculed, with 2 parietal placentation; ovules many. Style linear; stigma peltate. Berry globose, apex with persistent calyx lobes. Seeds globose or depressed globose; seed coat hard; embryo horseshoe-shaped; hypocotyl long; cotyledon short.

About 20 species: tropical Asia, Australia, New Caledonia; one species in China.