Small trees to shrubs. Buttresses absent. Spines absent. Stilt roots absent. Bark gray, brown; peeling in strips. Exudate absent. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.
Complex hairs absent. Stinging hairs absent. Mature twig indumentum present, or absent; sparse.
Leaves two-ranked; not scale-like; simple; all of the same type; not modified into spines; coriaceous, or paper-like; not gland-dotted; very asymmetric at the base, or symmetric at the base; not dissected; smooth margined. Epidermis not waxy. Venation pinnate, or palmate. Secondary veins open; prominent. Smallest veins prominent, or not prominent, but visible; ladder like. Intramarginal vein absent. Stalk of blade less than a quarter the length of the blade; not winged; attached to base of leaf blade; not swollen. Stipules absent. Domatia absent. Basal glands absent. Hairs on mature leaf present, or absent; dense, or sparse.
Inflorescences present, or represented by solitary flowers only; leaf-opposed; the flowers from a single point on the stem; specialized inflorescence units absent; numerous and persistent inflorescence bracts absent. Flowers bisexual; stalked; to about 3 cm long or ac