Shrubs or perennial herbs, woolly or silky-pubescent when young. Leaves small, opposite or alternate, often fasciculate, entire, sessile, often spurred at base. Flowers inconspicuous, solitary, axillary, sessile, ebracteate, unisexual or bisexual. Perianth ovoid, c. 1 mm high, ± divided into 5 imbricate tepals, not enlarging in fruit. Stamens 5; filaments strap-shaped, united into a narrow disc at base. Ovary ovoid, c. 0.5 mm long, densely pubescent; style short, densely pubescent; stigmas 2 or 3, slender. Ovule erect, campylotropous; funicle arising from a cushion-like placenta. Fruit subglobular, 1–3 mm high, surrounded by perianth at base; pericarp thin, crustaceous. Seed horizontal or oblique; testa thin but slightly leathery; embryo circular surrounding a small central perisperm; radicle enclosed.
Home