Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, rarely subopposite or opposite. Cymes arranged in lax or dense panicles, ebracteate, terminal or axillary. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, actinomorphic. Calyx tubular or ± campanulate, usually splitting irregularly, 3-5-toothed, usually accrescent and cup-shaped in fruit. Corolla 4-5(-7)-lobed, funnel-shaped to salver-shaped, white or yellowish. Ovary 4-locular (abortive in male flowers). Style terminal, twice 2-fid with 4 slender or clavate, stigmas. Fruit drupaceous, partially or wholly surrounded by the enlarged persistent calyx. Derivation of name: after Valerius Cordus, 1515-1544, German physician and botanist. Worldwide: c.320 species, tropical. Zimbabwe: 9 taxa. Insects associated with this genus:
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| Species | FZ divisions | Content |
| africana Lam. | N,E,S | Description, Image |
| goetzei Gürke | N,S | Description, Image |
| grandicalyx Oberm. | W,E,S | Description, Image |
| monoica Roxb. | N,E,S | Description, Image |
| mukuensis Taton | N,C | |
| myxa L. | E | |
| pilosissima Baker | N,W,C | Description, Image |
| quercifolia Klotzsch | S,E(Other?) | |
| sinensis Lam. | N,W,C,E,S | Description, Image |