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Description:
Hermaphroditic or andromonoecious, armed, glabrous to tomentose, terrestrial, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees. Stems sparsely branched (less commonly well branched), pachycaulous. Leaves alternate, petiolate, the bases stipulate and adnate; blades simple and palmately lobed, or palmately compound; lobes or leaflets chartaceous to coriaceous, petiolulate, the margins variously toothed to sometimes entire. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, erect or pendant, paniculate, the ultimate units umbellules of greatly varying sizes among species; bracts sometimes caducous, triangular to lanceolate; pedicels short to long, relatively thick, unarticulated. Calyx lobes 5, minutely toothed; petals 5, valvate, free; stamens 5; carpels mostly 2 (rarely 1 as in B. simplex, 3–5 as in B. producta, or 5 as in B. grushvitzkyi), ovary inferior to semi-inferior, styles connate into a single column; the disc convex. Fruits drupes, glabrous, subglobose or turbinate, terete; endocarp crustaceous. Endosperm ruminate, nearly ruminate, or uniform. 2n = 48.
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