Herbs, annual. Stems erect, branched. Leaves sessile, base clasping and decurrent. Inflorescences subcapitate when young, becoming shortly spicate; spikelets 2- or 3-flowered; bracts leaflike, herbaceous; bractlets 2, membranous. Flowers minute, pedicellate. Calyx siphonate-conical; tube not glandular, slightly 5-angular, angles alternating with lobes and becoming crested by fruiting stage; lobes with stalked glands along margin. Corolla narrowly campanulate, tube slightly longer than calyx, lobes erect. Stamens hypogynous or slightly adnate to corolla base; filaments linear, basally not expanded; anthers narrowly ovate. Ovary ovoid, apex acuminate. Styles connate, terminally 5-branched; stigma on inner surface of branches, covered with stalked capitate glands.

Monospecific: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia.