Perennial glabrous herb with creeping rootstocks. Stems erect. Leaves alternate or solitary at top of stem, long petioled. Inflorescence racemose or subumbelliform, arising from a leaf sheath. Flowers shortly pedicellate. Perianth segments 3-1-3, free. Stamens 6, subequal; 1 filament longer with a lateral appendage and a larger anther. Ovary 3-locular, ovules numerous; stigma lobed. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, dehiscing explosively.