Proteaceae

Evergreen trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite or whorled, simple or sometimes pinnatisect, rarely compound, usually coriaceous, margins entire or toothed; stipules absent. Inflorescence of a solitary flower or flowers paired in simple or compound racemes or spikes, sometimes aggregated into dense heads or spikes. Flowers actinomorphic to zygomorphic, usually bisexual, often subtended by a small bract; perianth usually of 4 petaloid tepals, free, cohering into a tube, or fused and more or less strap-shaped; stamens 4, usually all fertile, filaments partly or wholly adnate to tepals, anthers introrse or rarely latrorse, opening by longitudinal slits; hypogynous glands (nectaries) often present, usually 4, fleshy or scale-like, free and alternating with the tepals or fused into a complete or partial ring; ovary superior, 1-celled, sessile or stipitate, and sometimes displaced to one side; ovules 1–many; style simple, usually long, commonly expanded below or around the small stigma into a specialized pollen presenter; stigma capitate or bilobed. Fruit an indehiscent nut or drupe or a woody or coriaceous follicle; seeds 1–many, often winged in follicular fruit.