genus descriptions: SSTAs

Erect, glabrous shrubs, not or little branched. Leaves alternate, clustered near tips of branchlets, petiolate, persistent, elongate-obovate or -spathulate, apex rounded but tip abruptly long-acuminate, long-attenuate towards base, subcoriaceous, +/- sharply serrate-dentate; lateral nerves 14-18 pairs, prominent on both faces; stipules lanceolate, caducous. Inflorescence epiphyllous, 1-3(4)-flowered, on midrib of upper ?-3/4 of lamina, glabrous; median bract ovate-lanceolate, accrescent. Flowers bisexual or unisexual (plants polygamous), pedicelled. Sepals 3 or 4(5), imbricate, rather irregular and dry, ovate, ciliolate. Petals 4-6, imbricate, thin, much larger than sepals, ciliate. Stamens 25-40, free; filaments subulate; anthers almost basifixed, longitudinally dehiscent, apiculate by protruding connective. Ovary superior, glabrous, 1-locular, with 2-4 multi-ovulate parietal placentas; style simple, shortly 2-4-fid. Capsule opening with 2 or 3 valves; pericarp woody. Seeds weakly arillate, with endosperm.

Glabrous or hairy shrubs or small trees with supra-axillary branches. Leaves usually thinly coriaceous with a characteristic divaricate venation, usually oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, less often more rounded; stipules triangular, acuminate or aristate with raised midline. Flowers sessile or rarely pedicellate, usually small in sessile or pedunculate bracteate clusters; bracts and bracteoles forming a complicated pattern of primary bracts; secondary bracts often supporting triads of flowers, and bracteoles often several per flower usually joined to form a cup at base of calyx. Calyx: tube campanulate or turbinate; tube of limb cup- or bowl-shaped, obconic or sometimes tubular, occasionally covering corolla in bud, truncate or 4- or 5-toothed, persistent. Corolla: tube narrowly funnel-shaped or cylindric, densely hairy at throat; lobes 4 or 5, strictly contorted, overlapping to the left (as seen in bud), ovate to oblong, acuminate, spreading. Stamens 4 or 5, inserted in corolla tube, filaments very short; anthers linear, fixed at back near base, included or partly exserted, sometimes minutely apiculate. Disc small but evident, fleshy. Ovary 2-locular; ovule solitary in each locule, pendulous; style filiform, exserted, usually shortly pubescent or hairy, with filiform or rarely +/- ellipsoid undivided or slightly to distinctly bifid stigma. Fruits pea-like with rather tough epicarp, 1- or 2-locular, 1- or 2-seeded. Seeds subglobose to plano-convex with striate-sulcate testa and very ruminate endosperm.

Scandent shrubs, often with hairy stems. Leaves paired, petiolate; domatia absent or present as hairy tufts in axils of lateral and sometimes tertiary nerves beneath; bacterial nodules absent; stipules with 3-15 fimbriae or with a single lobe. Flowers bisexual, 4- or 5(6)-merous, sessile or pedicellate in pyramidal to racemiform or hemispherical to flat-topped panicles, terminal on the main or short lateral branches, sessile to pedunculate (the presence of rudimentary leaves frequently renders this character ambiguous); bracts and bracteoles present, either conspicuous and exceeding calyx or inconspicuous. Calyx: tube ovoid to campanulate; limb tube usually short, slightly wider than tube, bearing 4 or 5(6) ovate, subulate, filiform to linear or triangular lobes. Corolla white or cream, usually small, salver-shaped; tube cylindrical to funnel-shaped, glabrous to sparsely pubescent inside; lobes 4 or 5(6), contorted in bud, spreading or reflexed. Stamens arising in mouth of tube, exserted, or at least partly so; filaments short; anthers attached near base or occasionally near middle, usually shortly apiculate. Disc fleshy, glabrous. Ovary 2(3)-locular (or incompletely so); ovules solitary, inserted on a small fleshy placenta ascending from base of ovary; style slender, greatly or less often scarcely exceeding corolla tube, glabrous or nearly so or less often densely pubescent just above base; stigma +/- exserted, fusiform, clavate or broadly elliptic to globose, entire or rarely 2- or 3-lobed. Fruit 1-locular, frequently orange to red, drupaceous, spherical, somewhat fleshy with a chartaceous endocarp; calyx limb persistent or less often deciduous. Seed 1, globose, filling the cell, hilum basal, irregular; testa thin, reticulate; albumen horny, deeply ruminate; embryo curved.

Low to tall shrubs with glabrous vegetative parts. Leaves opposite, petiolate, narrowly oblong to elliptic, attenuate at both ends, shiny; domatia absent; stipules broadly triangular, long-acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, few-flowered, pedunculate, in pairs at successive nodes. Flowers bisexual, sessile. Calyx cup-shaped, glabrous, with 5 unequal subspathulate lobes. Corolla +/- funnel-shaped, glabrous outside, with 5 ovate lobes, contorted. Stamens very narrowly oblong, sessile, with apices exserted. Ovary 2- or 3-locular, locules sometimes fusing in upper part; ovules 2-8 per locule; pollen presenter far exserted, spindle-shaped. Fruit baccate with juicy edible pulp. Seeds 1-15; testa fibrous; endosperm copious; embryo straight.