Marine, submerged to intertidal herbs. Rhizome robust, sympodially-branched, with 1 or 2 branched wiry roots at each node and an erect stem every 3–7 nodes. Stem erect, wiry, muchbranched, with tuft of 6–10 leaves at ends of branches. Leaf sheath and blade shed together, leaving a closed circular scar. Leaf blade linear, flat, entire; apex bidentate to obtuse; longitudinal veins numerous. Inflorescence solitary, terminal on short lateral branches, enclosed by normal leaves. Male flower pedicellate; anthers at same level, each crowned with 2 or 3 branched appendages. Female flowers: carpels free; each ovary subtended by 4 pericarp lobes at base; style short; stigmas 3, filiform. Fruit viviparous; young seedling remaining on parent plant for 7–12 months. The released seeding with several seedling leaves on a short stem subtended by a bristly comb-like ‘grappling apparatus’ which develops from pericarp lobes and anchors the seedling to the substrate.
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