Gaylussacia Kunth

Subshrubs or shrubs. Stems erect; twigs glabrous or hairy, sometimes glandular. Leaves deciduous (G. brachycera persistent); blade obovate or ovate to oblong or oblanceolate, membranous or coriaceous, margins entire or crenate (sometimes serrulate) [glandular-crenate], plane or revolute, glabrous or hairy; venation reticulodromous. Inflorescences axillary or terminal racemes, 2-8-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary. Flowers: sepals (4-)5, sometimes vestigial, connate basally, deltate (straight or inflexed in fruit); petals 4-5, connate for nearly their entire lengths, greenish white or white to pink or orange to red, corolla urceolate, campanulate, or campanulate-conic, lobes much shorter than tube; stamens 10, included, (slightly shorter than corolla); filaments straight, flattened, glabrous or pilose, without spurs; anthers without awns, dehiscent through narrowly oblong, terminal pores; pistil 5-10-carpellate; ovary inferior, 5-or 10-locular; stigma capitate. Fruits drupaceous, ovoid to globose, fleshy. Seeds (pyrenes) 10, ellipsoid; testa stony, papillose (smooth in G. ursina). x = 12.