Staminate fls with 4 sep, stamens 4, opposite the sep, long-exsert, with very stout filaments; pistillate fls with 4 or more sep; ovary bi-or tricarpellate, with 4 or 6 uniovulate locelli; fr capsular or baccate, lobed; suffrutescent plants with long rhizomes, the ± evergreen, alternate lvs mostly crowded toward the summit of the erect or ascending stems, the fls in spikes, a few at the base pistillate, the upper all staminate. 4, the others in e. Asia.