7758.000 Parmentiera DC.

Trees or shrubs, stems terete. Leaves opposite or sub-opposite, sometimes fasciculate; usually 3- or 5- foliate; leaflet margins normally entire; subtended by simple spines; petiole sometimes with narrow lateral wings; mostly glabrous. Inflorescence 1-3 flowered, terminal or on leafless short shoots, or cauliflorous on trunk or older stems; bracts minute; drying black. Flowers glabrous, drying black, usually bat pollinated; calyx tubular; corolla whitish-green, tubular-campanulate often bent. Fruit fleshy, indhiscent; elongate-oblong to linear; terete or longitudinally ridged. Seeds on a fibrous-fleshy core.

Worldwide: 10 species in Mexico to Panama, Columbia.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.