Shrubs or small trees. Leaves coriaceous, less often chartaceous. Stipules without darkened central area. Inflorescences terminal on main and lateral branches, sometimes borne on short spurs or axillary. Calyx with both limb-tube and lobes present. Corolla hairless outside. Placenta bearing 2-8 pendulous ovules or ovate with 2-3 impressed ovules. Fruit brown or red, drying blackish, 1(-2)-locular. Seeds 1(-2) per fruit, blackish, reticulate, with an irregular, less often circular, excavation. Worldwide: c. 60 species in eastern Tropical Africa, Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles and the Mascarenes Zimbabwe: 5 taxa. |
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