Description: Shrubs or trees, mostly dioecious.
Leaves alternate, often peltate and usually palmately veined at apex of petiole, lower surface usually with sessile glands; long-petiolate; stipulate.
Inflorescences axillary. Male flowers in clusters, each cluster surrounded by a fringed bract; perianth segments 3 or 4; stamens usually <10, anthers 4-lobed. Female flowers solitary, or in few-flowered clusters; subtended by a fringed bract; perianth cup-shaped; ovary spinose.
Capsule tuberculate or with long processes.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 280 species, Africa, Malesia, Pacific islands. Australia: 6 species, Qld, N.S.W., N.T., chiefly tropical
Text by T. A. James & G. J. Harden
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Macaranga tanarius |
|
