Glabrous or pubescent herbs. Stems erect or spreading, branched or rarely simple, bearing many leaves or rarely only one leaf, glabrous or pubescent. Leaf-blade strongly asymmetric, homotropic or rarely anti-tropic, the rounded side with a more deeply coloured marginal zone beneath (i.e. the part exposed in bud). Inflorescence lax or congested, each branch with about four nodes, with one or two fascicled cymules at each node; each cymule backed by a prophyll; mesophylls present; cymule pedunculate or subsessile, with the pedicellate flowers arranged at different levels; fleshy bracteoles absent. Outer staminodes 2, petaloid; the hooded staminode with a spur-like appendage. Ovary 3-locular, often pilose. Capsule tardily dehiscent, smooth, more or less pubescent, not fleshy within. Seed shaped like a third segment of a sphere, with a small basal aril.
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