Altingiaceae - Sweetgum family

Usually monoecious trees. Leaves deciduous, alternate, serrate, palmately veined and lobed, with stipules. Flowers unisexual without petals, in spherical heads. Male flowers in erect terminal racemes of several heads; stamens many. Female flowers amalgamated into a single dense head borne on a pendent peduncle; ovary 2-celled with a persistent style. Mature fruiting head hard and woody. Seeds winged.

Worldwide: One genus, which occurs in Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and from the eastern U.S.A. to Central America.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated genus and 2 cultivated taxa.