Small trees to shrubs. Buttresses absent. Spines absent. Stilt roots absent. Bark red, gray; not peeling in strips. Exudate absent. Terminal buds not enclosed by leaves.
Complex hairs absent. Stinging hairs absent. Mature twig indumentum absent.
Leaves spiral, or two-ranked; not scale-like; simple; all of the same type; not modified into spines; coriaceous; not gland-dotted; symmetric at the base; not dissected; smooth margined, or wavy margined. Epidermis not waxy. Venation pinnate. Secondary veins open; prominent. Smallest veins not prominent, but visible, or not visible; net 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 present, or absent; appearing as hair tufts; scattered along midrib. Basal glands absent. Hairs on mature leaf present, or absent; sparse.
Inflorescences present, or represented by solitary flowers only; axillary; the flowers from a single point on the stem, or on a branched axis; specialized inflorescence units absent; numerous and persistent inflorescence bracts absent. Flowers bisexual; stalked; about 0.5 cm long or across to to about 3 cm long or across; round; with male or female parts not raised on a column. Hypanthium absent. Disk present, or absent; the stamens outside the disk. Perianth present; with distinct calyx and corolla whorls. Sepals (3-)4-5(-6); partially joined; not persistent in fruit; not growing any further after flowering. Epicalyx absent. Petals present; (3-)4-5; free; not fleshy; deciduous; not stalked; entire. Stamens (7-)8-10(-100) (many); filaments present; joined; free of the perianth; all equal in size; diplostemonous to polystemonous. Anthers 2 loculed; attached by the base; not awned; dehiscing by long slits. Ovary superior. Carpels joined; 5. Locules (3-)5(-20). Styles solitary. Stigmas 1 lobed; distinctive; head shaped. Fruit capsular; non-fleshy; not multiple; splitting; not enclosed in, or sitting on, fleshy perianth parts; wingless. Seeds 2-10(-100) per fruit (many); less than 5 mm to about 1 cm long; wingless; uniform in cross-section; aril present; endospermic.
Rare; flowers relatively large for Meliaceae; in Borneo the capsules split into 5 “starwise”; testa glossy black; aril scarlet. Taxon images: turra.gif
Cite this publication as: Jarvie, J.K. and
Ermayanti (1996 onwards). `Tree Genera of Borneo – Descriptions and
Illustrations’ URL
http://django.harvard.edu/users/jjarvie/Borneo.htm/.
Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz,
Paine and Zurcher (1993) should also be cited.