Description:

• Small trees, shrubs or woody climbers with simple hairs
• Inflorescences few-flowered fascicles, or flowers solitary, supra-axillary, rarely axillary
• Flowers bisexual or unisexual, small, mostly pedicellate, bracteolate; bracteoles often persistent, quite conspicuously leafy and usually situated on lower half of pedicel, frequently minute
• Sepals (2)3, valvate, free or ± connate at base, much shorter than petals
• Petals (4-)6, valvate, in 1 or 2 whorls, free or slightly connate at base, inner shorter than outer, ± clawed
• Stamens 6-many, in 1 to several whorls, or rarely 6 alternating with 6 staminodes; connective without a prolonged apex, sometimes with lateral appendages
• Carpels few to many, free, cylindrical, ellipsoid or obconic; ovules 1-8, lateral, in 1 whorl; style as long as or shorter than ovary; stigma bifurcate or grooved
• Monocarps indehiscent, ± cylindrical, mostly stipitate, 1-8-seeded, often fleshy, mostly constricted between seeds, articles easily breaking off
• Seeds oblong-ellipsoid, ovoid or subglobose, vertical; testa intrusions into endosperm lamelliform

Nomenclature:

• Monanthotaxis Baill.
  • Baillon: 878 (1890), in broad sense
  • Verdcourt: 20 (1971b)
  • Verdcourt: 88 (1971a)
  • Van Setten & Maas: 683 (1990)
  • Kessler: 123 (1993)
• Popowia in sense of various authors, all Africa species, not of Endl.
  • Endlicher: 831 (1839)
  • Engler & Diels: 53 (1901)
  • Robson: 122 (1960)
  • Paiva: 34 (1966)
  • Le Thomas: 255 (1969).
• Unona Benth
  • Bentham: 469 (1862)
  • Oliver: 35 (1868)

Distribution & Notes:

• Global: Species ± 60; tropical Africa and Madagascar
• Southern Africa: Species 1: Monanthotaxis caffra (Sond.) Verdc., Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape