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Cal tubular, membranous, deeply divided into 2 lateral halves; cor-tube slender, elongate, scarcely dilated distally, the upper lip (galea) triangular-acuminate, laterally compressed, the lower lip much shorter than the upper, appressed or deflexed; stamens 4, paired, ascending under the galea, included; one pollen-sac attached at its center, the other suspended from its summit; stigma capitate or shallowly 2-lobed; fr ovoid or oblong, loculicidal; hemiparasitic herbs with alternate, often pinnatifid lvs and large fls in dense terminal spikes, each fl subtended by a large, entire or pinnatifid, sometimes brightly colored bracteal lf. 150+, mostly w. N. Amer.
Herbs, annuals or perennials, rarely shrubs, hemiparasitic. Spikes or racemes terminal; bracts leaflike, often broader than leaves, variously colored, entire or lobed. Calyx tubular, base often gibbous abaxially, 2-or 4-lobed, median clefts usually deeper than lateral. Corolla tube included in calyx; limb conspicuously 2-lipped; lower lip short, patent, 3-lobed; upper lip elongated, rostrate apex entire. Stamens 4, didynamous; anthers enclosed by upper lip. Capsule loculicidal. Seeds numerous, minute; seed coat transparent, foveolate.
