Herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial. Taproots slender. Stems erect to prostrate, branched, terete. Leaves connate proximally, sessile; blade 1-veined, subulate to linear, not succulent, apex acute or obtuse. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, lax to dense cymes; bracts paired, foliaceous. Flowers sessile to subsessile; perianth and androecium perigynous; hypanthium urceolate, abruptly expanded distally; sepals 5, distinct, greenish, lanceolate to awl-shaped, 1.5-4 mm, herbaceous, margins whitish, scarious, apex acute to blunt or obtuse; petals absent; nectariferous disc at base of stamens; stamens 2-10, arising from hypanthium rim; filaments distinct; staminodes absent or 5-8, arising from hypanthium rim, filiform; styles 2, capitate, 0.8-1 mm, glabrous proximally; stigmas 2, terminal, minutely papillate (50×). Utricles ovoid, enclosed in persistent, indurate, shallowly or strongly furrowed, sepal-crowned hypanthium and falling with it, the whole constituting the indehiscent 'fruit'; carpophore present. Seeds 1, yellowish, globose, not compressed, smooth, marginal wing absent, appendage absent. x = 11 [12].