Description from Flora of China Trees, shrubs, or herbs,
deciduous, massive to slender, tuberous when young and sometimes
as adults; bark and pith with gum canals. Leaves alternate,
1-3(or 4)-imparipinnate, glabrous to puberulent; leaflets
opposite, entire, sometimes caducous; stipules absent but
stalked glands present at base of petiole and leaflets. Flowers
borne in axillary panicles, bisexual, white to yellow or red,
actinomorphic to zygomorphic, with or without hypanthium. Sepals
5, often reflexed at anthesis. Petals 5, equal or unequal, often
reflexed. Stamens in 2 series, 5 perfect and 5 reduced to
staminodes; filaments free. Pistil 1; ovary superior, borne on
short gynophore, 1-loculed; placentas 3, parietal; ovules
numerous; style 1; stigma minute. Fruit a capsule, 3-12-ribbed,
sometimes with elongated beak; valves 3, dehiscent. Seeds
numerous, 3-winged or wingless, without endosperm. Chen Wei-qiu.
1984. Moringaceae. In: Fu Shu-hsia & Fu Kun-tsun, eds., Fl.
Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 34(1): 6-8. One genu