Subshrubs. Branches not jointed; annual branches terete. Leaves alternate, obliquely spreading, subclavate, straight or slightly upward arcuate, somewhat fleshy. Flowers solitary in leaf axils, sessile, bisexual, with 2 bractlets. Perianth slightly depressed, herbaceous, becoming slightly hardened and papery in fruit, glabrous; segments 5, free, ovate to suborbicular, veinless, abaxially with a transverse wing near apex, adaxially concave, margin membranous. Disk cupular, 5-lobed; lobes semiorbicular, margin slightly fleshy. Stamens 5, inserted on disk; filaments filiform, flattened, short; anthers ovoid, apex with a mucronate appendage. Ovary ovoid or depressed globose; style very short; stigmas 2, expanded. Utricle hemispheric, adaxially plane or slightly concave. Seed horizontal, slightly depressed; embryo planospiral; perisperm absent.

One species: China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia.