Trees or shrubs with pinnately veined, alternate, entire or rarely lobed leaves, large solitary flowers, and bitter aromatic bark. Sepals and petals arranged in 3 or more series of 3's, hypogynous, deciduous. Stamens 00; anthers adnate. Carpels 00, separate or coherent, borne on the surface of the elongated receptacle, ripening into an aggregate fruit composed of 1-2-seeded dry or fleshy follicles or achenes. Seeds 1 or 2 in each carpel; endosperm fleshy; embryo very small.