Annual or perennial herbs, glabrous or with simple or stellate hairs. Stipules 0. Leaves alternate, opposite or whorled, narrowly elliptic to circular. Perianth segments 5, free, herbaceous. Staminodes 0-8 or more, sometimes ± petaloid. Stamens 3-many, free. Ovary superior, of 3-5 carpels; 3- or 5-locular; each loculus with numerous ovules; stigmas 3-5. Fruit a 3- or 5-valved capsule. Seeds many, bearing a fleshy aril on a long filiform-appendaged strophiole. Worldwide: c. 12 species in warm and tropical regions. Zambia: 5 taxa. |
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