Trees. Leaves petiolate, alternate, entire, subcoriaceous to coriaceous, glabrous; veins very prominent beneath, ± impressed above, tertiary veins characteristically parallel to one another (as also in Strombosiopsis). Inflorescence axillary, with the flowers fasciculate on a very short lateral shoot, padlike. Flowers bisexual, pedicellate. Calyx small, tubular, 5-lobed, accrescent, adnate to the ovary. Petals 5, valvate, with a fine indumentum on the inner surface usually confined to the upper half. Stamens 5, epipetalous; filaments free for only a short distance; anthers dorsifixed. Ovary semi-inferior to inferior, 3–5-locular, borne on a disk or partially immersed in it, scarcely lobed; ovules 1 per locule, pendulous from a central placenta; style short; stigma 3–5-lobed. Fruit a drupe, bearing the remains of the calyx at the apex.