Herbs, annual or perennial, succulent, glabrous, with caudices, not rhizomatous or stoloniferous. Roots fleshy and/or fibrous, or taproots. Stems decumbent to erect, simple or branched; nodes glabrous. Leaves basal and/or cauline, glabrous, not articulate at base, somewhat to markedly clasping, attachment points linear; basal leaves in rosettes; cauline leaves alternate (usually absent in C. umbellata and C. tweedyi). Inflorescences axillary, umbellate, paniculate, racemose, or cymose, sometimes scorpioid and/or secund, loose to dense, 1-many-flowered, leafy and/or bracteate; bracts (1-)2 subtending each flower, markedly unequal. Flowers pedicellate to subsessile; sepals persistent, distinct, not keeled or angled, often unequal, herbaceous to scarious, glabrous; petals 2-9(-12), distinct; stamens 1-23; ovules 1-many; style present or absent; stigmas 2 or 3. Capsules 2-3-valved, dehiscence loculicidal from apex, valves not deciduous, (except C. tweedyi, which has circumscissile deshiscence and 3-4 valves splitting from base), margins not reflexed after dehiscence, margins not markedly involute. Seeds 1-40, dark brownish red, dull gray, or black, usually elliptic to orbiculate, sometimes orbiculate-reniform, dull or shiny, smooth or sculptured, sometimes hairy, strophiolate in C. maritima and C. tweedyi. x = 22, 23.
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