Trees or shrubs, often dioecious, with peltate or stellate scales. Lvs alternate, rarely opposite, entire, exstipulate. Fls in fascicles, racemes, spikes or more rarely solitary, ☿ or unisexual. Calyx ± 2-4-lobed, valvate, constricted and persistent round ovary; calyx tube extending beyond ovary to form a hypanthium. Corolla 0. Stamens as many as and alternating with or twice as many as calyx segments; filaments free; ♀ fls lacking staminodes. Ovary superior, sessile, 1-locular; ovule 1, basal; style terminal. Fr. superficially drupe-like, but really an achene enclosed by the fleshy hypanthium. Endosperm 0 or scanty.