Herbs annual or perennial, rarely subshrubs, pubescent or strigose, rarely scabrous. Leaves alternate, less often opposite, sessile or petiolate. Cymes terminal, rarely axillary, unilateral, scorpioid, bracteate or not. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla white or light bluish purple, less often yellow, cylindric or funnelform, strigose outside, glabrous and rarely appressed pubescent inside; throat frequently pubescent; limb 5-parted; lobes orbicular, sometimes linear, margin with folds or undulate. Filaments extremely short; anthers included. Ovary completely or incompletely divided into 4 lobes; ovules 4. Style terminal; stigma conical or ringlike. Fruit nutletlike dry drupes, without evident mesocarp at maturity, endocarp bony, dividing into 4 1-seeded or 2 2-seeded mericarps. Seeds straight or curved, usually with a thin endosperm.

About 250 species: tropical and temperate regions; ten species in China.

Heliotropium ovalifolium Forsskål var. depressum (Chamisso) Merrill is not included here because no material was available for study.