Fls us. regular, perfect, solitary to paniculate. Receptacle ± adnate to inferior ovary. Sepals us. 4-5 and persistent; petals us. 4-5 and free, imbricate, inserted on margin of disk. Stamens ∞, filaments free to connate or in bundles opp. petals, anther-connective often gland-tipped. Ovary cells 1 - ∞, with us. axile placentation; style and stigma 1. Fr. mostly either baccate or capsular with loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds with scanty or no endosperm. Trees and shrubs with mostly simple, entire, opp., exstipulate, coriac., gland-dotted, aromatic lvs. Some 80 genera and 3000 spp., mostly tropical and subtropical.

Evergreen shrubs or trees. Lvs simple, usually entire, sometimes finely toothed in juvenile and intermediate lvs, exstipulate, very rarely stipulate, generally coriaceous, opposite, or alternate (often in adult shoots), often dotted with pellucid glands. Fls solitary in cymes, often in panicles, actinomorphic, usually ☿. Hypanthium (calyx tube) ± adnate to ovary, the lower part sometimes narrow and forming a pseudopedicel; lobes (2)-4-5-(many), sometimes calyptrate, sometimes calyx rim-like. Petals as many as calyx lobes or rarely 0, imbricate, sometimes caducous, sometimes calyptrate. Stamens usually numerous; filaments free or connate at base, sometimes in bundles opposite petals; anthers small, usually dehiscing by longitudinal slits, rarely by apical pores; connective gland-tipped. Ovary inferior; ovules usually numerous, rarely few or 1, mostly with axile, rarely parietal, placentation; style simple; stigma capitate. Fr. a loculicidal capsule or berry-like. Seeds usually numerous; endosperm 0 or scanty.