Herbs, perennial, orange-red lactiferous. Rootstock stoloniferous, much branched. Leaves several, all basal, long petiolate; blade cordate, palmately veined. Scape erect; flowers forming lax, scapose, cymose clusters. Sepals 2, caducous, cymbiform, membranous, united into a spathe, apex acuminate. Petals 4, white, obovate, 2-whorled, imbricate in bud. Stamens numerous, more than 70; filaments filiform; anthers oblong, 2-loculed, longitudinally divided, with broad connectives. Ovary 2-carpellate, 1-loculed; ovules many; styles distinct; stigmas 2-lobed, alternate with placentas. Capsule narrowly elliptic. Seeds carunculate.

● One species: China.

(Authors: Zhang Mingli (张明理); Christopher Grey-Wilson)