Burseraceae

Trees; the inner bark always provided with resiniferous ducts. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate or 1—3-foliolate. Stipules wanting. Inflorescence consisting of raceme-like panicles. Flowers hermaphrodite or polygamodioecious, actinomorphic. Sepals 3—5, free or connate. Petals 3—5, free, deciduous. Stamens usually obdiplostemonous; filaments free and inserted either below the disk or on its margin; anthers introrse with longitudinal dehiscence. Disk intrastaminal or rarely extrastaminal. Ovary superior, 2—5-locular. Ovules 1—2 in each locule, epitropous, pendulous. Fruit a drupe with free or more or less connate, always 1-seeded pyrenes. Seeds without endosperm. Embryo straight and curved. About 600 species in 20 genera in the tropics.