Flowers 4-to 8-merous. Hypanthium globose to tubular, often constricted at the mouth. Sepals small or obsolete; exterior teeth present, minute to elongate. Petals ovate to narrowly lanceolate, rarely obovate, acute to acuminate, the covered side often much the wider, usually erect at anthesis. Stamens nearly or quite isomorphic; filaments slender, smooth; anthers linear to oblong or rarely subulate, 2-celled or 4-celled; connective simple or rarely slightly prolonged at base, never appendaged, often gibbous on the back near the base. Ovary mostly or wholly inferior, its cells often isomerous with the petals; style slender; stigma capitellate to punctiform. Fruit a many-seeded berry. Shrubs or small trees, almost always pubescent, often hirsute or hispid, with terminal panicles or bracteate heads of small, usually white flowers.
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