Perennial herbs or small shrubs. Stipules 0. Leaves alternate or in basal rosettes, simple. Flowers 5-merous, bisexual, actinomorphic, arranged in a simple inflorescence. Calyx consists of a 5- or 10-ribbed tube. Petals united into a long tube. Ovary superior, 1-locular with 1 ovule per loculus. Style 1 with 5 lobes. Fruit a membranous capsule, enclosed in the persistent calyx. Worldwide: 27 genera and 730 species, cosmopolitan, but often in maritime situations. Zimbabwe: 3 cultivated genera and 6 cultivated taxa. |
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