Shrub or small tree (in ours). Leaves opposite, occurring in equal pairs at non-flowering nodes but with one reduced to a scale at flowering nodes. Inflorescences of pedunculate cymes, occurring at every other node. Flowers bisexual, 5-merous. Calyx with reduced lobes. Corolla tube cylindric with hairy throat; lobes overlapping to the left. Stamens exserted. Style exserted with a club-shaped apical stigma. Fruit spherical, with a circular scar left by the deciduous calyx limb. Worldwide: 13 species occurring in the Old World tropics extending to Australia Caprivi: 1 cultivated taxon. |