Moringaceae

Trees; bark yielding a gum. Leaves alternate, deciduous, 2—3-imparipinnate. Stipules wanting or modified as glands at the base of the petioles and the pinnae. Inflorescence consisting of large, axillary panicles. Flowers hermaphrodite, zygomorphic; receptacle cup-shaped. Sepals 5, unequal, imbricate, spreading or reflexed. Petals slightly unequal, the interior one reflexed. Disk lining the receptacle, with a very short free margin. Stamens 5, epipetalous; filaments slender, somewhat unequal; anthers 1-celled, dorsifixed. Staminodes 5, episepalous, subulate. Ovary superior, stipitate, 1-locular; style slender, tubular; stigma minute. Ovules numerous, attached in 2 rows to the 3 parietal placentas, pendulous. Fruit an elongate, 1-locular, angled capsule, dehiscing by 3 valves. Seeds large, 3-winged or wingless. Embryo straight. Endosperm wanting. About 10 species in one genus in Africa and tropical Asia, especially in the semi-arid regions; one species widely cultivated and sometimes naturalized in the tropics.