Shrubs or trees with peeling bark. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, petiolate; leaflets opposite or alternate, petiolulate, lateral leaflet bases asymmetric. Flowers in axillary panicles, dioecious. Male flowers: calyx 3-4(-5)-partite; petals 3-4(-5)-partite, whitish; disk crenulate; pistillode reduced to four lobes; stamens 6-8(-10), often in two whorls of different lengths. Female flowers: perianth and disk similar to male; staminodes present; carpels 3-4(-5), usually only 1 fertile; styles 3-4(-5), very short, subapical; stigmas 3-4(-5), nearly sessile. Drupe oblong-obovoid; exocarp blue-black; mesocarp resinous; endocarp woody with 3-4(-5) opercula; 3-4(-5)-locular. [Description contributed by Dr Susan Pell] Worldwide: 2 species in subsaharan Africa Zambia: 1 taxon. |
No image yet |