Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate, usually entire;. stipules wanting. Flowers generally small, regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual, in axillary or terminal cymes, panicles, or heads. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, limb 4–5-toothed or wanting. Petals 4–5 or wanting, inserted round the margin of an epigynous disc, valvate or imbricate. Stamens inserted with the petals and. page 237equal to them in number, rarely twice as many. Ovary inferior, 1–4-celled, crowned by a fleshy disc; style single (3 in Griselinia), long or short; ovules solitary (rarely 2–3), pendulous from the top of the cell, anatropous. Fruit usually drupaceous, indehiscent, 1–4-celled, or rarely with 2 pyrenes. Seed pendulous, testa thin; albumen copious, fleshy; embryo axile, radicle superior.

A small order, scattered over the whole world, but chiefly found in the north temperate zone. Genera 12; species 75. Properties unimportant. Of the 2 New Zealand genera, Corokia is endemic; Griselinia extends to South America.