Small shrubs. Leaves spiral, sometimes some in pairs or in false whorls, entire or dentate, membranous or rather fleshy, exstipulate; axils puberulous. Flowers fragrant, actinomorphous, 4-7-merous, usually 5-merous, axillary, solitary or in pauciflorous racemes (up to 5 flowers), sustained by a few bracts, small, often in part cleistogamous. Calyx persistent. Disk absent. Corolla sympetalous, barrel-shaped, lobes ± valvate, short, carunculate inside apex. Stamens mostly 5, free, alternipetalous; filaments filiform; anthers introrsely, lengthwise dehiscent. Ovary inferior, 2-3-celled, with flat apex, style columnar, as long as the corolla, the globular, rugose stigma closely enveloped by the corolla segments. Ovules flattened, attached to the septum, (?1 —)4—6 in each cell. Berry small, globose, crowned by the calyx, few-seeded.
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