Trees or shrubs, deciduous. Winter buds naked. Leaves alternate; stipules absent; leaf blade margin serrate or serrulate. Inflorescences terminal, racemelike, usually pendulous, few-flowered; bracteoles early deciduous. Pedicel elongated, slender, jointed. Calyx tube obconical, adnate to ovary, 4--7-toothed. Corolla campanulate; lobes 4--7, imbricate, base shortly connate. Stamens 8--14, 1 series, inserted near base of corolla; filaments equal or unequal in length, more or less connate at base; anthers oblong, connective slightly developed. Ovary inferior, 3- or 4-locular; ovules 6--8 per locule, in 2 series, erect or obliquely ascending, placentation axile. Style elongate, subulate; stigma usually obscurely 3-lobed. Fruit long ellipsoid to subglobose, indehiscent, produced beyond calyx into beak, exocarp fleshy, thick, and sometimes lenticellate, mesocarp spongy, endocarp woody. Seeds solitary; seed coat crusty; endosperm fleshy.

Five species: endemic to China.