Description: Trees or shrubs, evergreen.
Leaves alternate, simple [or compound]; stipules absent.
Inflorescences various, flowers often clustered in axils of leaves. Flowers bisexual [or unisexual and then plants monoecious]; 4–6-merous. Calyx tubular, lobed. Petals longer than calyx. Stamens twice as many as petals, filaments [slender] or broadly dilated and abruptly constricted in upper half. Disc lobed, sometimes ± forming a gynophore. Carpels with ovaries free or cohering basally; styles fused; ovules 1 or 2 per carpel, apical.
Fruit drupaceous, sometimes woody.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 40 species, tropical & subtropical regions. Australia: 2–4 species (endemic), Qld., N.S.W.
Text by G. J. Harden
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Carpels villous; leaves <13 mm wide. | Quassia sp. Moonee Creek (King s.n., Nov 1949) |
| Carpels glabrous; leaves >14 mm wide. | Quassia sp. Mt Nardi (Floyd 1198) |
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