Fls in axillary racemes which may be long or greatly reduced, sts to solitary bibracteate fl. Calyx deeply and evenly 4-lobed, a small fifth lobe occ. present. Corolla variable in size and shape, tube very short to long, lobes 4 or 5, unequal. Stamens 2, anthers held above tube. Style long, stigma capitate. Capsule laterally compressed with septum across narrowest diam., emarginate and ± 2-lobed, dehiscing loculicidally and us. less deeply septicidally, sts separating to base into 4 valves; seeds us. many, ± flattened, smooth. Prostrate to decumbent subshrubs with woody or semiwoody stems rooting in lower parts, rarely herbaceous. Lvs opp., mostly crenate or toothed, sessile or shortly petioled. Not certainly recorded outside N.Z.

Softly woody small shrubs, or prostrate mat or cushion plants. Stems prostrate, decumbent, suberect to erect, woody or semiwoody, rooting at lower nodes when in contact with the ground; stem hairs bifarious or uniform or absent, white or fulvous, straight or curved. Leaves sessile or petiolate, decussate, but sometimes pseudodistichous on prostrate stems, entire, crenate, serrate, or shallowly pinnatifid. Shoot apex not enclosed in a tight bud of many overlapping leaf pairs, opposite leaves of a pair separating while still quite small (cf. most species of Hebe). Inflorescence axillary, bracteate or bracteolate, a diffuse many-flowered or few-flowered raceme, a pair of flowers, or a solitary bibracteolate flower. Calyx deeply and evenly 4-lobed, or with a smaller fifth lobe, or sometimes lobes in slightly unequal pairs, the posterior longer. Corolla white, sometimes pale pink or blue; tube white or yellow, hairy inside or glabrous, short or moderately long; throat white or with pink or mauve eye; lobes 4 or 5 (rarely 6), unequal. Stamens 2, posterior, anthers dorsifixed, versatile, introrse, usually exserted or borne at throat. Style usually equalling stamen filaments, stigma capitate. Capsule subterete or flattened, angustiseptate, apiculate to obtuse to emarginate, xerochastic or hygrochastic, dehiscing septicidally in most species, and usually to a lesser extent loculicidally as well, rarely only loculicidally. Seeds many, ovate and flattened, or ovoid, small, smooth.