Mangrove or seacoast trees, with pneumatophores (surface breathing roots). Leaves glabrous, entire, petiolate, coriaceous. Flowers l-3, ephemeral and nocturnal, terminal on branchlets. Calyx coriaceous, cup-shaped or companulate with 4-8 segments. Petals narrow, oblong, or absent. Stamens inserted on the calyx tube, caducous. Ovary multilocular; style long, stigma capitate. Fruit a berry, crowned with the persistent calyx. Seeds embedded in pulp.