Annual herb with opposite or alternate branches and leaves; leaves entire. Flowers small, solitary in the axils of scarious bracts, in dense, sessile, solitary or clustered spikes. Perianth segments 3–4(5), hyaline, the perianth subtended by two very small bracteoles. Ovary with a single, pendulous ovule with an ascending radicle. Fruit a delicate capsule, irregularly rupturing. Seeds rounded, compressed, endosperm copious. Worldwide: 1 species, widespread in tropical Africa, Mauritius, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Burma. Zimbabwe: 1 taxon. |
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