Undershrubs. Leaves entire, scattered. Flowers hermaphrodite, capitate or in short racemes. Calyx tubular, often dilated basally, 4 lobed; lobes spreading; petals absent. Disc absent. Stamens 8, 2-seriate, more or less included in the tube, subsessile. Ovary unilocular; style short, stigma capitate. Berry globose, ovoid or oblong, enclosed in the persistent calyx.