Shrubs and trees, unarmed, terrestrial, with raphides in the tissues, sometimes with anisophylly and reduced nodes so leaves appear subopposite. Leaves opposite or rarely ternate, petiolate, entire or rarely sinuate to lyrate, with higher-order venation not lineolate, often with pubescent domatia in axils of secondary and sometimes tertiary veins; stipules interpetiolar or sometimes fused around the stem, triangular, generally erect and valvate in bud, persistent or caducous. Inflorescences terminal, pseudoaxillary, or apparently leaf-opposed, fasciculate to cymose, with 1 (or perhaps 2 to several) subglobose head(s), these each several-flowered with flowers fused together, pedunculate to subsessile, bracts developed or reduced. Flowers sessile, bisexual, distylous or sometimes homostylous, protandrous, fragrant, perhaps noctural or diurnal; hypanthia fused within an inflorescence, angled; calyx limb reduced to shortly lobed, without or occasionally with calycophylls; corolla salverform to funnelform, white to yellow, internally glabrous except pubescent in upper part, lobes (3)4--7, triangular, valvate in bud, sometimes with appendages; stamens (3)4--7, inserted above middle of corolla tube, anthers ellipsoid to oblong, dorsifixed in distal part, opening by linear slits, sometimes with prolonged apical appendage, included or exserted; ovary 2-locular or incompletely 4-locular with false septa, with ovules 1 in each locule, inserted on septum near its base; stigmas 2, included or exserted. Fruits multiple, comprising the entire infructescence, drupaceous, subglobose, fleshy, at maturity dirty white, with calyx limb persistent; pyrenes 2-4 per flower, 1-locular, oblong to obovoid or reniform, bony or cartilaginous, adaxially plane to sulcate, apparently dehiscent by preformed slits; seeds 1 per pyrene, ellipsoid.