Annual, or perennial herbs with a rhizome. Leaves scattered, entire. Stipules 0 or very small. Racemes terminal. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous, in groups in the axils of bracts. Sepals usually more or less connate, rarely free. Corolla perigynous or almost hypogynous, petals long-clawed, rarely entirely free, usually free at the base, connate in the upper portion of the claws, lobes imbricate spreading. Stamens 5, inserted on the margin of the calyx tube, free, usually unequal (2 shortest), included in the corolla tube. Ovary (2-)3(-5) celled, lobed, each cell with 1 erect ovule. Style with (2-)3(-5) stigmatic lobes, partly sunk in the ovary. Fruit with (2-)3(-5) one-seeded cocci and a columella. Distr. Ca 19 spp. in Australia, 4 in Tasmania, 1 in New Zealand and 1 in Malaysia, Australia and Micronesia (Palau, Jap).