Tetrapilus Loureiro.

Trees or shrubs, evergreen, sometimes polygamodioecious. Leaves opposite, simple, petiolate; leaf blade entire or serrate. Inflorescences axillary or terminal panicles, sometimes racemes or umbels. Flowers small, bisexual or unisexual. Calyx small, campanulate, 4-lobed to subtruncate; lobes deltate or ovate, usually ciliate. Corolla with a short tube, 4-lobed; lobes shorter or longer than tube, usually valvate in bud, cucullate. Stamens 2(-4), inserted at base of corolla tube, included; filaments short or absent; anthers ovate, elliptic, or subrounded. Ovules 2 in each locule, pendulous. Style short or absent; stigma capitate or slightly 2-cleft. Fruit a drupe; endocarp thick and hard, sometimes papery. Seeds often 1; endosperm fleshy or bony; radicle short, upward.

More than 40 species: Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and Pacific Islands. 13 species in China.