Annual to perennial herbs, rarely woody. Lvs alternate, simple or pinnatifid, often glandular-stipulate. Infls bracteate, terminal and lateral, spicate or racemose. Sepals 4-8, free or connate, persistent, usually unequal. Corolla zygomorphic; petals 4-8, free, entire or lobed, unequal. Androgynophore often present. Stamens 3-40, inserted on a perigynous or hypogynous disc. Carpels 2-7, superior, united below, with numerous ovules on parietal placentae, rarely free and uniovulate. Fr. a capsule, berry or a cluster of 1-seeded follicles. Seeds reniform to orbicular, without endosperm.