Herbs annual or perennial, erect or creeping. Rhizomes absent. Leaves alternate. Cincinni sessile, subtended by spathelike involucral bracts; bracts imbricate, 2-seriate, falcate-curved. Flowers actinomorphic. Sepals free or connate only at base. Petals connate and tubular in middle, free at both ends, purple, blue, or white, linear-lanceolate. Stamens 6, all fertile, equal; filaments lanate, rarely glabrous; anther locules longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary 3-loculed; ovules 2 per locule. Capsule 3-valved, obovoid-or broadly oblong, trigonous. Seeds 1 or 2 per valve, cylindric or quadrangular, reticulate or pitted; hilum at adjoining end of 2 seeds.
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