Fls small, us. in cymes or racemes, perfect to unisexual; calyx 6-lobed; stamens in 4 whorls, 4th whorl aborted; anthers 2-4-valved, opening from base by flaps. Ovary 1-celled; ovule 1, pend. Aromatic trees and shrubs, rarely parasitic twining lianes; lvs us. alt., exstipulate, gland-dotted. About 40 genera and 1000 spp., mainly tropical and subtropical.

Usually evergreen trees or shrubs, rarely twining, ± herbaceous parasites, often aromatic, generally with ☿ fls, sometimes dioecious, gynodioecious or monoecious. Lvs usually alternate, very rarely opposite, usually simple, coriaceous, exstipulate. Fls usually in cymes, racemes, spikes, or panicles, rarely solitary, regular, small. Bracts small and caducous or 0, occasionally forming an involucre below the fls. Perianth (calyx) tube short, sometimes accrescent; perianth lobes or teeth (4)-6, usually in 2 series, the outer often smaller. Corolla 0. Stamens mostly 2× as many as perianth teeth, in as many as 3-4 or rarely more whorls, the innermost whorl usually, and outermost 2 whorls sometimes, reduced to staminodes, the remaining or 3rd whorl nearly always fertile; some filaments usually glandular towards the base. Ovary usually superior, rarely inferior, 1-celled; ovule 1; style terminal, simple, rarely 0; stigma entire or lobed. Fr. indehiscent, a berry or drupe, sometimes dry, sometimes partly covered by persistent perianth. Seed non-endospermic, pendulous.