The leaves are alternate and compound, with an even number of opposite or sub-opposite leaflets that may have smooth or toothed edges.

Inflorescences may be racemes or panicles, produced in the leaf axils or from the branches on old wood.

[4][5][6] The genus was erected in 1879 by the Bavarian botanist Ludwig Adolph Timotheus Radlkofer to accommodate the newly described plant Lepiderema papuana.

[3] Plants in this genus inhabit rainforest of New Guinea and eastern Australia.

All other species are found in Queensland, with one – P. pulchella – extending into the northeastern part of New South Wales.