Toricelliaceae

noun

Trees or shrubs, dioecious. Branches spreading, thick, with conspicuous leaf scars; pith soft, white, wide in relation to twig. Leaves alternate, petiolate, estipulate, simple; petiole elongate, expanding at base, sheathing; leaf blade broadly cordate to nearly orbicular, papery, unlobed or slightly lobed, lobes 5 7( 9), glabrous or pubescent, trichomes multicellular, glandular, veins palmate, 5 7( 9), margin entire or serrate. Inflorescences racemiform panicles, terminal, pendulous. Flowers unisexual, shortly pedicellate, bracteolate. Staminate flowers: calyx 5-dentate, teeth small, unequal; petals 5, narrowly elliptic, apex inflexed; stamens 5, filaments short, anthers oblong, locules 2, longitudinally dehiscent; vestigial styles 1 3, minute. Carpellate flowers: calyx lobes 3 5, unequal, acutely triangular; petals and vestigial stamens absent; ovary inferior, locules 3 or 4, often only 1 locule with a pendulous ovule; styles 3, persistent, 3 4 mm, thick, apex often 2-lobed; stigmas 3, often curved and extending downward. Fruit drupelike, purple red or black, ovoid or obliquely ovoid, crowned by persistent calyx and styles; stone of fruit with a triangular germination valve. Seeds linear, curved; embryo at apex of fleshy endosperm.