Trees, shrubs and occasionally herbs. Leaves alternate, simple, mostly with numerous parallel lateral veins, rarely pinnate; stipules present. Flowers bisexual, regular, in clusters. Sepals 5(-6), free or united at base. Petals mostly 5, free. Stamens 5, 10 or many, occasionally in several whorls, attached to a disc, the filaments persistent. Carpels 2-15, united, or free (though sometimes buried in receptacle) and with a common style; anthers opening by pores. Ovary superior; ovules 1-many in each chamber. Receptacle usually swelling. Fruit a berry, capsule or cluster of drupes.
A diverse, loosely-defined family sometimes segregated into other families.
Several species of Lophira, African Oak, are used for commercial timber production.
Woody plants with mostly 5 sepals and petals, the numerous stamens having anthers that open by pores.
About 37 genera and 460 species from tropics, mostly S America, mostly Brazil (Australia has 1 native genus, Brackenridgea, with 1 species).
Source: (1997). Ochnaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
