Fls 4(5)-merous; cal toothed, cleft, or entire; cor funnelform or salverform, the straight tube ampliate above, the narrow, spreading lobes all alike; stamens always present, attached to the base of the cor-tube, equal, usually exserted; pistil absent from staminate fls; ovary with 4 uniovulate chambers; stigma depressed-capitate or peltate; fr globose, drupaceous, with a fleshy exocarp and a hard endocarp, the latter separating into usually 4 nutlets; trees and shrubs with axillary or supra-axillary cymes of regular, usually polygamous fls. 140, warm reg.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
