Shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate or scattered, rarely opposite, simple, entire or toothed; stipules wanting. Flowers hermaphrodite, irregular or almost regular. Calyx inferior, persistent, 5-partite or 5-fid. Corolla gamopetalous, hypogynous, 5-lobed; lobes imbricate. Stamens 4, didynamous, rarely 5–6, inserted at the base of the corolla-tube; anthers introrse, cells confluent. Ovary superior, not lobed, normally 2-celled with 2 (rarely more) pendulous ovules in each cell, but sometimes the cells are more or less completely divided into 2, with a single ovule in each cell, or very rarely the cells may be as many as 5–10; style terminal; stigma small, entire or emarginate. Fruit drupaceous, indehiscent, succulent or almost dry, 2–4-celled, rarely more-celled. Seeds solitary in each cell; albumen scanty, fleshy; embryo straight; radicle superior, next the hilum.

A small order, almost confined to Australia, a few species only being found in the Pacific islands, the Malay Archipelago, and South Africa, and one mono-typic genus in the West Indies. Genera 5; species about 90. The properties of the order are unimportant.