Shrubs or perennial or perhaps annual herbs; pubescence of simple hairs. Stems dichotomously branched. Leaves simple, petiolate. Inflorescences in branch forks, occasionally axillary, solitary or sometimes 2-or 3-flowered clusters; peduncle short or obsolete. Flowers mostly actinomorphic, 5-merous, long pedicellate, nodding. Calyx short campanulate or conical, lobed to halfway, lobes equal or not. Corolla broadly campanulate to rotate, lobed to halfway; lobes wide spreading, densely villous near base of tube, sometimes spotted. Nectaries sometimes present. Stamens inserted in corolla tube; filaments pubescent or glabrous; anthers dehiscing longitudinally. Disc rudimentary or absent. Ovary 2-locular; ovules numerous. Fruiting calyx becoming enlarged, applied to berry or inflated, mostly open at apex; veins obscure or thickened into angles or ribs, mostly muricate or bristly with soft emergences that appear deltate and scalelike when dry, these sometimes localized on angles. Fruit a juicy or fleshy berry enveloped in calyx. Seeds numerous, reniform-discoid, minutely pitted; embryo curved, subperipheral.
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