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Shrubs, slightly to much branched from a woody rootstock.Leaves usually opposite or sometimes in whorls of 3, shortly petiolate; stipules connate into a sheath below, densely hairy within, distinctly subulate-caudate at the apex, at least the base persistent.Flowers conspicuous, in few- to several-flowered simple or branched peduncled pubescent cymes; bracts small.Buds elongate, ferruginous pubescent outside.Calyx tube campanulate; limb-tube very reduced; lobes 5, well-developed and distinctly leaf-like.Corolla tube cylindrical, elongate, slightly to distinctly curved, open and glabrous at the throat but with a ring of deflexed hairs inside just above the base, and some scattered long hairs elsewhere; lobes triangular-ovate, reflexed, much shorter than the corolla tube, appendaged.Stamens inserted at the throat, the anther tips exserted.Ovary globose or semi-globose, 4–5-locular, each locule with a pendulous ovule; style slender, glabrous, shortly exserted; pollen presenter large, cylindrical, 4–5-lobed at the apex.Fruit globose or lobed when dry, fleshy, crowned with calyx lobes, containing up to 5 pyrenes.Pyrenes thinly woody, smooth, scarcely crested around apex, truncate at point of attachment.Embryo with exceptionally long cotyledons.