Stoloniferous creeping herbs rooting at the nodes, with erect flowering branches, or sometimes erect shrubs. Stipules bifid at the apex or divided into 2 completely separate lobes; a membranous cylindric or cupular sheath present at the nodes beneath the stipules. Inflorescences terminal, ± capitate, often with a cup-like involucre. Flowers sessile or subsessile, 5-merous, distinctly or obscurely heterostylous. Style bifid. Fruits usually orange, sometimes red, inflated, full of watery juice, crowned with the persistent calyx, with 2 pyrenes; pyrenes semi-ellipsoid, brittle, the dorsal face convex and not ribbed, the ventral face with 1 or 2 grooves, basally dehiscent by 2 short lateral fissures. Seeds semi-ellipsoid, with entire albumen.
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