Prostrate subsucculent perennial herbs confined to the littoral zone. Leaves sessile, ovate, oblong or elliptic, closely imbricated on short flowering shoots; stipule-sheath cupular, adnate to the petioles, with 1–2 short setae or up to 8 very small processes. Flowers solitary, axillary, hermaphrodite, isostylous or heterostylous. Calyx-tube oblong-ovoid, 4-angled; limb irregularly lobed or with 4 persistent ovate-lanceolate acute lobes. Corolla somewhat fleshy; tube broadly funnel-shaped, hairy inside for upper half; lobes 4, valvate, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate. Filaments filiform; anthers linear, exserted. Disc fleshy. Ovary 2-locular; ovules solitary in each locule, attached to the centre of the septum; style filiform, pubescent; stigma-lobes linear, exserted. Fruit indehiscent, small or relatively large, ellipsoid to oblong-ovoid, compressed, often curved, corky, 4-angled, keeled between the angles, or 8-keeled, 1–2-locular, 1–2-seeded. Seeds linear-oblong, dorsally convex, ventrally longitudinally deeply 2-sulcate when viewed in transverse section but grooves covered over externally; testa minutely granular; endosperm cartilaginous.
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