Herbs, shrublets, or shrubs, branched. Stems usually 4-sided, winged or not, usually pubescent with simple or glandular trichomes. Petiole winged or not, usually pubescent; leaf blade thin, secondary veins 2-4(or 5) on each side of midvein, base usually cordate and often oblique, margin serrulate with each tooth having a terminal seta, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescences terminal or sometimes axillary, scorpioid cymes or subumbellate, pedunculate; bracts small, caducous. Flowers small, 3[or 6]-merous. Hypanthium tubular-campanulate, 3-sided, 6-ribbed, pubescent. Calyx lobes broadly triangular, small, very short. Petals pink, red, or purplish red, oblong-elliptic. Stamens 3[or 6], equal or unequal; filaments filiform; anthers subulate to broadly ovate, dehiscence poricidal; connective not inflated. Ovary inferior, urceolate, apex with a membranous 3-lobed crown. Style filiform; stigma apiculate. Capsule campanulate to tubular-campanulate, crown woody and exserted from calyx; hypanthium 3[or 6]-sided, 6-ribbed, usually with sparse glandular trichomes. Seeds numerous, cuneate, small, glabrous or small tuberculate.
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