Shrubs, subshrubs or small trees, rarely herbs. Leaves membranous to thickly chartaceous, usually replete with cystoliths, petiolate or sessile, the stipules de-ciduous. Inflorescences axillary, occasionally subtended by roots (rhizomatous), cymose, usually pedunculate, the flowers spreading or conglomerate. Flowers usually pedicellate, the hypanthium with numerous cystoliths, the calycine tube short, the teeth often 4, usually shorter than the hypanthium; corolla tube usually reduced, glabrous within, the lobes imbricate; stamens 3-5, the anther connective occasionally produced apically; style elongate, slender, glabrous, the stigmas usually 2, if connate then clavate, linear or lanceolate. Fruits baccate, usually 2-celled; seeds numerous, small, foveolate.
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