Calyx tube turbinate, fleshy; lobes 5, 2 much > rest; coloured staminodes ∞; styles 5-8.

Prostrate or trailing perennial succulent herbs. Lvs opposite, sessile, terete or weakly 3-angled, entire, smooth or papillate, mildly salty-tasting; papillae not glittering. Fls solitary, terminal on short lateral branchlets. Sepals 5, unequal: 2 large, leaflike, 3 smaller with expanded membranous margins. Petals numerous, > sepals, free; stamens numerous; staminodes 0. Placentation parietal. Stigmas 5-(10), plumose. Capsule 5-(10)-locular; expanding keels parallel to divergent; wings present; locules with lids; placental tubercle usually 2-fid, sometimes 0. Seeds obovoid, compressed, smooth to rugose.