Low annual or perennial herbs; stems absent or short, with many branches, densely leafy, pubescent.. Flowerssolitary or more commonly umbellate on scapes, small, white or pink; calyx 5-parted, persistent, the lobes erect, incurved or spreading in fruit; corolla salverform or funnel-shaped, the tube shorter than the calyx, constrictesd on the throat, the limb 5-lobed; stamens 5, included, the filaments very short, the anthers acute; style usually short; ovules few to many. Capsules globose or ovoid, dehiscent, 6-valved; seeds dorsally flattened.
About 100 species in Eurasia and North America; one in Taiwan.
