Description: Annual herbs with appressed hairs.
Leaves opposite at the base, becoming alternate up stem, sessile.
Inflorescence terminal, of 1–3 scorpioid cymes, bracteate; shortly pedicellate. Sepals fused at base. Corolla actinomorphic, cylindrical, with 5 pubescent ridges running from the throat to the anthers. Stamens inserted below the middle of the tube; anthers subsessile, lacking an appendage. Ovary 4-lobed; style as long as the stamens; stigma bilobed with a terminal appendage.
Fruit of 4 mericarps splitting from a low gynobase.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 15 species, Europe, Mediterranean region & C Asia. Australia: 1 species (naturalised).
Text by Peter G. Wilson
Taxon concept:
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