Common Name: SILK TASSEL FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, small tree; dioecious. Leaf: simple, opposite, evergreen, petioled; blade +- leathery, flat to concave-convex, margin entire, flat, rolled under, or strongly wavy. Inflorescence: catkin-like, pendent; flowers small, in axils of opposite, 4-ranked, basally fused bracts. Staminate Flower: (1)3(4) per bract, pedicelled; perianth parts 4, generally fused at tips; stamens 4, alternate perianth parts, filaments free, anthers 2-chambered. Pistillate Flower: 1--3 per bract; pedicel +- 0 or short; perianth 0 or vestigial with 2 small appendages; ovary inferior, chamber 1, styles 2(3). Fruit: berry, spheric to ovoid, green, fleshy, turning dark blue, black, or white-gray, dry, brittle, not or irregularly dehiscent. Seed: generally 2.
Genera In Family: 1 genus, 14 species: western United States, Central America, Caribbean; some cultivated.
eFlora Treatment Author: Thomas F. Daniel
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.