Fls us. solitary; calyx (3)-5-(7)-lobed; corolla us. campanulate, regular, lobes as for calyx, valvate. Stamens free from corolla; filaments ± dilated at base. Ovary 2-5-loculed, ovules ∞, style cylindric, stigma 2-5-fid. Capsule apically loculicidally dehiscent. Perennial to annual herbs, of wide distribution, especially in southern hemisphere, with some 120 spp.

Annual or perennial herbs with sweet milky juice. Leaves usually alternate, sometimes opposite, sessile or petiolate, margins always with conspicuous, short, blunt, pale, spine-like hydathodes. Young shoots usually sparsely hairy with straight simple hairs 1—2 mm long. Flowers solitary, terminal, regular; corolla glabrous with campanulate tube and (3—)5(—7) spreading lobes, valvate and coherent in bud. Calyx tube glabrous, adnate to the inferior ovary; calyx lobes glabrous, discrete, the same number as the corolla lobes and alternate with them, persistent in fruit. Stamens dehiscent in the elongating bud; anthers oblong, free; filaments delicate, transparent, dilated at the base, arching over the nectary; ovary 2- or 3-celled; style columnar, sometimes thickened and coloured in the upper half which is usually coated with pollen at anthesis. Stigmas are 2-, 3-, or rarely 4-lobed, lobes short, oblong, papillose on the inner surface, opening after the flower has opened. Capsules open by 2 or 3 apical valves within the calyx. Seeds numerous, 0.5—1 mm long, ellipsoid, dark brown and glossy when mature. Flowering Oct—Apr, capsules ripe Nov—Apr in cultivation.