Description: Shrubs or small trees, glabrous, the branchlets zigzag.
Leaves alternate, 2-ranked, simple, entire, glossy above; oil dots, numerous, minute; stipules absent.
Flowers usually terminal, mostly solitary; actinomorphic, bisexual, heavily scented. Bud with basal tubular receptacle and a conical calyptra formed from a modified bract, calyptra shed to reveal ± expanded receptacle. Sepals and petals absent. Stamens numerous, spirally arranged on the rim of the receptacle in 2 or 3 outer rows, with connectives extending above the 2 laterally fused anther lobes; staminodes petaloid, in 3–5 inner rows. Carpels many, fused but the apical parts distinct, spirally arranged on the expanded concave receptacle; stigmas sessile on the surface of each carpel; ovules c. 3 in each carpel.
Fruit a berry; seeds numerous, angular. Pollination is by beetles that feed on the staminodes.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 2 species, Australia & New Guinea. Australia: 2 species, Qld, N.S.W., Vic.
Text by G. J. Harden
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Leaves with petiole decurrent on stem, lamina gradually tapering into the petiole; shrub, mostly less than 1 m high, rarely branched | Eupomatia bennettii |
| Leaves without petiole decurrent on stem, petiole distinct, c. 3 mm long; small tree or branched shrub more than 1 m high | Eupomatia laurina |
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