Wellingtonia Meissn.
Deciduous or evergreen shrubs or small trees, without persistent bud scales. Leaves simple or imparipinnately compound; leaflets subopposite, the terminal occasionally absent. Inflorescence of axillary or terminal panicles. Flowers bisexual, penta-or tetramerous, white or yellow, bracteate or not. Sepals 5(-4), somewhat unequal, concave, imbricate. Petals 5, biseriate, distinctly unequal, 3 outer conspicuous, the inner 2 indistinct and bilobed, valvate, or imbricate. Stamens 5, antipetalous, filaments expanded above with cupular apex, 3 outer staminodial, 2 inner fertile with large globose anthers. Disc cupular, membranous, 2-5-toothed, enclosing the basal part of the ovary. Ovary bi- rarely trilocular, each locule with 2 superposed ovules; style and stigma simple. Fruit oblong to globose, 1-seeded, 1-loculed, red or black drupe with a brittle endocarp. Seeds oblong-globose.
A genus of c. 100 species; distributed in warm parts of South East Asia and America.
