Flowers usually 6-merous, each closely subtended by two pairs of bracts. Hypanthium campanulate or cup--shaped, usually thick-walled. Calyx truncate to deeply lobed. Petals usually large, commonly unsymmetrical. Stamens iso-morphic; filaments short; anthers coherent in a ring, short, oval or oblong, abtuse or rounded at the summit, laterally flattened, opening by two minute pores; con-nective usually slightly prolonged or dilated at base into a dorsal spur. Ovary wholly inferior, usually 6-celled; stigma punctiform or capitate. Woody plants, often epiphytic or climbing by adventitious roots when young, sometimes reaching a large size, with conspicuous flowers solitary or fascicled in the axils of the leaves; leaves with the secondary veins usually close together, straight, and parallel.
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