Fls irregular; sepals 5, uppermost spurred, the spur adnate to pedicel; petals 5, sts aborted, upper pair different from rest. Stamens 10, 5-7 developed, the rest rud. Ovary 5-celled, beaked; styles 5, short; ovules 2 per cell; carpels rolling up elastically to apex of beak. Seeds 1 per carpel. Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs with us. opp., stipulate lvs. A genus of some 300 spp., mainly of S. Africa.

Perennial herbs or soft-wooded subshrubs, rarely annual, sometimes with tuberous roots, usually aromatic; stems sometimes succulent. Lvs cauline, usually opposite and petiolate, entire to finely dissected, often ± succulent; stipules often brown and scarious. Fls 2-many, in pedunculate umbels; bracts few to many, sometimes coloured. Sepals 5, imbricate, connate at base, with dorsal sepal forming a nectariferous spur adnate to the pedicel. Petals (2)-5, clawed or sessile, usually unequal with upper 2 larger and more conspicuously coloured. Stamens 10, 2-7 fertile, others reduced to staminodes, connate at base. Ovary 5-locular, with 2 ovules per loculus, hirsute; style long. Fr. with beak, the outer part of style separating to form 5 long awns which remain attached to the mericarps; awns spirally-twisted, sometimes spine-like, coiling upon dehiscence. Mericarps 1-seeded, tapering, often spine-tipped.