Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: None

Description:
Evergreen trees and shrubs; leaves alternate, simple, entire, ericoid or scale-like, glabrous or papillose, exstipulate.

Flowers bisexual, regular, very small, solitary or in bracteate spikes or racemes; sepals 4 or 5, free or shortly fused; petals 4 or 5, free, imbricate; stamens 4 to numerous, free or partly fused, inserted on a disk; anthers 2-locular, dehiscing longitudinally; ovary superior, 1-celled; styles 3 or 4, free or shortly fused; ovules numerous, on parietal or basal placentas.

Fruit a septicidal capsule; seeds with or without endosperm, with numerous long hairs.

Distribution:  4 genera and about 120 species in temperate and warm parts of the world, especially in dry or coastal situations.

Biology: No text

Author: Prepared by J.P. Jessop