Fls solitary or in cymes or umbels; calyx 5-10-lobed. Corolla white, purple or blue, rotate, 5-10-lobed. Stamens inserted near throat of corolla-tube, filaments short; anthers long, exserted, connivent or cohering in a cone, dehiscing by apical pores. Ovary 2-loculed, sts appearing 3-4-loculed by ingrowth of subsidiary partitions. Fr. a berry with ∞ seeds. Herbs, shrubs, lianes or small trees with alt. or sts paired lvs. Widespread genus of some 1500 spp., but mainly tropical.

Unarmed, soft-wooded shrubs or small trees, sometimes herbs. Lvs alternate, entire or pinnately lobed, often large; base often cordate. Infl. racemose or cymose; cymes scorpioid. Calyx 5-toothed, sometimes deeply so, campanulate. Corolla regular, campanulate or rotate, yellowish to dull purplish, 5-lobed. Stamens 4-5, erect or bent, ± included; connective thickened conspicuously between anther lobes; anthers opening by apical pores or longitudinal slits. Stigma ± capitate, either little enlarged or large and forming a concave disc. Fr. a 2-celled berry, sometimes large. Seeds numerous, of moderate size.

Unarmed annual herbs with sprawling or decumbent stems, glandular-hairy. Lvs alternate, pinnatifid to pinnate, petiolate. Infl. usually a lf-opposed monochasial cyme with up to c. 15 fls. Calyx 5-toothed to near base, markedly accrescent; lobes reflexed at fruiting. Corolla 5-lobed, rotate, yellow, plicate in bud. Stamens 5, inserted in corolla throat; filaments very short; anthers forming a conspicuous yellow cone around style, dehiscing longitudinally from apex; connective prolonged into a sterile beak. Stigma capitate. Fr. a berry, 2- or more celled. Seeds many, ellipsoid, compressed, of size moderate.

Annual or perennial herbs, shrubs or small trees, sometimes trailing or climbing, sometimes armed with straight or curved prickles, often foetid when bruised, generally hairy, the hairs simple, stellate, glandular, or sometimes much-branched with a central axis. Lvs simple or compound, nearly always alternate, ± petiolate. Infls terminal or apparently axillary, cymose or umbellate, 2-many-flowered (fls rarely solitary), often extra-axillary, sometimes lf-opposed. Calyx (4)-5-(10)-toothed, generally campanulate, persistent and often accrescent. Corolla 5-lobed, rotate or shallowly campanulate, plicate in bud, usually white to blue or purple, sometimes cream or yellow; limb often patent and star-shaped, the lobes eventually reflexing. Stamens 5, inserted on throat of corolla tube, usually exserted; anthers coherent and forming a conspicuous yellow cone around the style, dehiscing by apical pores or slits or longitudinal slits. Ovary 2-celled (to 6 in cultivated plants); stigma capitate or 2-fid. Fr. a berry, generally globose, succulent or rather leathery; stone cells (sclerotic granules) sometimes present. Seeds many, compressed, of moderate size, often reticulately pitted.