Shrubs or trees. Leaves opposite, sessile. Flowers bisexual, axillary, solitary or several arranged into cymes, white [or red], small, 5-merous, shortly pedicellate or sessile. Bracteoles 2, small, caducous. Calyx tube campanulate or semiglobose, usually adnate to ovary; lobes 5, membranous, persistent. Petals 5, suborbicular. Stamens 5-10, or 20, shorter than petals; filaments short; anthers dorsifixed. Ovary inferior [semi-inferior or rarely superior], 2- or 3-loculed; ovules several per locule. Style short; stigma slightly expanded. Capsule dehiscing, segments 2 or 3, 1-3-seeded or rarely more. Seeds reniform, angular; embryo straight; endosperm absent; cotyledons small.

About 70 species: S and SE Asia, Australia; one species in China.