Straggly to bushy, often epiphytic shrubs or shrublets. Leaves subcoriaceous to coriaceous, occasionally fleshy, alternate, shortly petiolate; venation obscure. Inflorescence axillary, racemose or solitary with one to several flowers, pedicels usually short, subtended by small bracts and bearing usually inconspicuous bracteoles. Flowers with the hypanthium continuous with the pedicel, obconic or short cylindric, narrowly 5-winged to the sinuses or bluntly angled, the calyx limb erect to slightly spreading, the 5 lobes acute to acuminate, minute to well developed; corolla ovoid to cylindric, the lobes 5; stamens 4-5 or 8-10, equal or alternately slightly unequal, more than 1/2 as long as the corolla and often about as long as the corolla tube, the filaments distinct, slender and terete to somewhat flattened at the base, the anthers inserted medially or almost basally, the walls smooth, nearly equal to or only about 1/2 as long as the tubules, the tubules 1 or 2, if 2, often completely separate, dehiscing by short, introrse clefts; style filiform, about as long as the corolla. Berry with numerous small seeds; the green embryo clearly visible through the surrounding tissue.
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