Small trees or woody vines, evergreen, hermaphroditic, unarmed. Leaves palmately compound; leaflets 7-10, entire; stipules united with petiole. Inflorescence a pseudo-lateral compound umbel or small panicle of umbels. Pedicels stout, not articulate below ovary. Calyx a low rim. Petals indefinite in number, thick, leathery, becoming woody when dry, valvate, united into a calyptra, early deciduous. Stamens 25 or more, in 2 to several series. Ovary 20-70-carpellate; styles absent; stigmas sessile, as many as carpels. Fruit a drupe, leathery. Seeds many, endosperm uniform.

Recent phylogenetic studies have shown that Tupidanthus is part of a well-supported Asian Schefflera clade (Plunkett et al., Pl. Syst. Evol. 245: 1-39. 2004; Plunkett et al., Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 92: 202-224. 2005) and may therefore not warrant recognition as a distinct genus.

One species: NE India to S China (Yunnan) and N Indochina.