Herbaceous or suffrutescent plants. Stems more or less divaricately branching. Leaves opposite or whorled, usually petiolate, simple, more or less pinnately veined. Panicles composed of umbels, heads or whorls. Bracts small, sometimes deciduous. Flowers  generally hermaphrodite, small, without involucre. Petaloid part of perianth rotate or campanulate, 5-lobed, lower part very short-tubular. Stamens l-6, mostly 5, unequal; anthers 2-celled. Ovary stipitate, 1-celled, 1-ovuled; style as long as stamens. Fruit an anthocarp with enclosed achene/nutlet, often 5-ribbed and glandular but without warts.