Rhamnus

Shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, petioled, entire or toothed; stipules small, usually deciduous. Flowers bisexual or sometimes with some male and female flowers on different plants, in axillary cymes or racemes. Calyx urceolate or flat; lobes 4 or 5, erect or spreading, keeled on inner face. Petals (0)4 or 5, cucullate or flat. Disc inconspicuous, lining calyx tube. Stamens 4 or 5, shorter than calyx lobes. Ovary superior, sometimes immersed in disc, 2- or 4-locular; styles 2-4, free or united. Fruit a fleshy or dry drupe, globose or oblong in outline. Seed obovoid. x = 12 (aneuploids).