Region:
Madagascar, Comoros.
Genus: 3 species.
BotanyTree; evergreen; dioecious.
leaves: simple; leathery; entire; exstipulate.
Inflorescence: with some empty bracts at the base; up to 15 bracts arranged in a spiral, forming side branches of the inflorescence. At the apex of each side branch there is a structure made up of two larger "scales", each with a smaller "scale" at its base, and two carpels, somewhat separated from one another, often with a small "hump" in between; male flowers have 2 stamens, and are arranged in short panicles; female flowers are arranged in thyrses (spike-like structures);
Flowers: unisexual; female flowers having two carpels; male flowers had two stamens; scales correspond to tepals of the single flower; each carpel has a broad two-crested stigma on a short style, and usually contains a single ovule; integument is in the form of a long coiled tube, an unusual feature in flowering plants.
Pollen: with three furrows (colpi), each with 2 circular openings or pores.
Fruit: fleshy drupe, to which the stigma remains attached.
TaxonomyDidymeles was originally placed in its own family Didymelaceae. Phylogenetic research showed that Didymeles belongs to the family
Buxaceae. The Apg4 system of 2016 includes Haptanthus in the family
Buxaceae.