Evergreen or deciduous shrubs or trees, often scaly, aromatic. Leaves alternate, clustered at the ends of branches, shortly petiolate, usually leathery. Flowers in terminal clusters, rarely solitary, pedicellate, often large, showy. Calyx 5-lobed, often very small. Corolla 5-lobed, less often 6-10-lobed, slightly zygomorphic, rotate, campanulate, saucer-shaped or tubular. Stamens 5-10; anthers dehiscing by apical pores. Ovary 5-10-Jocular; ovules nume¬rous. Fruit capsular; dehiscence septicidal, 5-10-valvular. Seeds minute, numerous.