Bifaria Tieghem; Pseudixus Hayata.

Shrubs or subshrubs parasitic on flowering plants, monoecious. Branches opposite or dichotomous; stem internodes usually flattened, successive internodes in the same plane. Leaves reduced to scales, in 2 ranks, usually fused into a ring. Inflorescence axillary, a cyme, the flowers in each group developing successively to form a dense cluster; peduncle and pedicel ± absent; bracts absent, but flowers subtended by hairs. Male flower globose in mature bud; perianth lobes 3. Anthers sessile, circular, 2-loculed, introrse, connate into a synandrium, dehiscence longitudinal. Pollen grains prolate, semicircular in polar view. Female flower ovoid in mature bud; perianth lobes 3, minute. Placentation free, central. Style absent; stigma nipple-shaped. Berry ellipsoid or pyriform, mostly less than 4 mm, crowned by persistent perianth, exocarp smooth, weakly explosively dehiscent at maturity.

About 25 species: tropical and temperate regions of the Old World (except Europe); one species in China.