Fls small, mostly perfect, regular, bracted, 4-5-merous, solitary or in spikes or racemes, occ. panicled. Calyx persistent; corolla hypog., lobes imbricate or valvate. Stamens epipetalous or hypog., alt. with corolla-lobes, sts with tufts of hairs or glands between. Anthers 1-celled, dehiscing lengthwise. Ovary often subtended by a glandular disk, style simple Fr. a capsule or drupe with us. axile placentae; seeds with straight embryo, endosperm fleshy. Shrubs or small trees with us. alt., exstipulate, simple lvs. Some 30 genera and 400 spp. of Australia, Tasmania, N.Z., with a few outliers.

Fls perfect, regular, axillary, solitary or in racemes or panicles. Calyx 4-7-lobed, persistent; corolla 4-7-lobed, inserted below fleshy disk, funnelform to urceolate. Stamens twice as many as corolla-lobes (rarely the same number) inserted on disk. Anthers 2-celled, often tailed, dehiscing us. by terminal pores. Ovary superior, with single style and stigma; us. 5-loculed with axile placentae; ovules us. ∞. Fr. a capsule or berry; seed with straight embryo. Mostly shrubs or small trees, with alt. or whorled simple, coriac., exstipulate lvs. Widely distributed family with some 70 genera and 1900 spp.

Prostrate or erect evergreen shrubs or shrublets, more rarely small trees. Lvs alternate, very rarely opposite, often ericoid, sometimes densely crowded, usually entire, often rigid and coriaceous, exstipulate. Fls small, solitary, in spikes or racemes, axillary or terminal, usually ☿; bracts usually prominent. Calyx 4-5-lobed or of free sepals, persistent. Corolla 4-5-lobed, rarely of free petals; lobes imbricate or valvate, occasionally the lobes coherent and tube opening transversely. Stamens 4-5, generally epipetalous but sometimes inserted on receptacle; anthers 1-locular, opening by longitudinal slits; staminodes sometimes present or reduced to hair tufts or glands. Pollen often shed in tetrads. Ovary superior, nearly always surrounded by hypogynous nectariferous disc of scales; carpels (1)-5-10; style single; ovules 1-many on axile or apical placentae. Fr. a loculicidal capsule (subfam. Epacrideae) or a drupe with 1-5-seeded stone (subfam. Styphelieae). Seeds small, endospermic; embryo straight.

Shrubs and shrublets, less commonly trees, usually evergreen. Lvs exstipulate, usually alternate, sometimes opposite or whorled. Infl. a terminal or axillary raceme, umbel or panicle, sometimes fls solitary. Fls ☿, regular or nearly so. Calyx 4-5-lobed, persistent and sometimes accrescent. Corolla usually gamopetalous, 4-5-lobed, rarely petals free. Stamens usually twice as many as, sometimes as many as corolla lobes, usually inserted on or between the lobes of a fleshy hypogynous disc; filaments free or rarely ± connate; anthers 2-locular, dehiscing by terminal pores or short slits, sometimes with awns or tails; pollen shed in tetrads. Ovary usually superior, sometimes inferior, 2-5-(10)-celled; ovules numerous on axile placentae. Style and stigma single; stigma simple or lobed. Fr. a capsule or berry. Seeds usually numerous, occasionally few, very small.