Herbs or shrubs. Leaves simple, sometimes lobed or included; stipules small, glandular. Inflorescence a spike or a raceme. Flowers zygomorphic, 4-7-merous. Sepals 4-7 or more, often irregular. Petals absent or 4-7, sometimes fewer, alternating with the sepals, often with a membranous appendage attached at the base. Stamens 3-many, free or united at the base. Disc, if present, infundibuliform or cupular, hypogynous. Carpels 2-6, rarely free; ovary lobed, unilocular; placentation parietal with numerous ovules. Fruit a capsule or a berry. Seeds many, reniform to subglobose, small.