Shrubs, deciduous, much branched. Leaves alternate, usually clustered apically; petiole short; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, thickly membranous. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, densely capitate; peduncle long or short; involucre present; bracts caducous, small. Flowers bisexual, 4-merous; pedicel present, articulate. Calyx tube cylindric, incurved, interior yellow or white, exterior densely white pilose; lobes 4, spreading. Petaloid appendages absent. Stamens twice as many as calyx lobes, in two series; filaments very short. Disk cup-shaped, lobed. Ovary sessile, pilose, 1-loculed; style long, sometimes puberulous; stigma rounded or clavate, papillose. Fruit dry or slightly succulent, base enclosed by persistent calyx.

Five species: Asia; four species (three endemic) in China.

(Authors: Wang Yinzheng (王印政); Michael G. Gilbert)