Large trees to shrubs. Buttresses absent. Spines present, or absent (Semecarpus bunburyanus). Stilt roots absent. Bark orange, red, gray; not peeling in strips. Slash yellow, brown. Vertical stripes in the inner bark or wood absent. Odor absent. Exudate present; colorless; spotty; blackening on exposure to air. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.
Complex hairs present, or absent; star-like. Stinging hairs absent. Mature twig indumentum present, or absent; dense, or sparse.
Leaves spiral, or two-ranked; not scale-like; simple; all of the same type; not modified into spines; coriaceous, or leathery; not gland-dotted; symmetric at the base; not dissected; smooth margined. Epidermis not waxy. Venation pinnate. Secondary veins open; prominent. Smallest veins prominent; net like, or ladder like. Intramarginal vein present, or absent. Stalk of blade less than a quarter the length of the blade to a quarter to one half the length of the blade; not winged; attached to base of leaf blade; not swollen, or swollen; swollen at one end. Stipules absent. Domatia absent. Basal glands absent. Hairs on mature leaf present; dense, or sparse.
Inflorescences present; terminal, or axillary, or on the trunk or branches; on a branched axis; specialized inflorescence units absent; numerous and persistent inflorescence bracts absent. Flowers bisexual, or at least some flowers unisexual; with male and female flowers on