Trees or shrubs with latex. Leaves whorled, rarely opposite, with glands axillary and sometimes on petiole. Cymes pedunculate, terminal or axillary, each branch ends in as many inflorescences and/or branches as leaves in a whorl. Calyx deeply divided, without glands. Corolla white, yellow, green, or pink, rarely with a red tube, salverform or campanulate; tube cylindric, swollen on 1 side at or above middle, villous inside distal half, throat not scaly, often with long hairs inside; lobes overlapping to left. Stamens inserted in widening of corolla tube; filaments very short; anthers ovate, free from pistil head, base rounded; disc ringlike or cup-shaped, entire or lobed at apex. Ovaries 2, free or connate. Style filiform; pistil head drum-shaped, with a pendulous ring, apex shortly 2-cleft. Drupes 2, distinct or connate. Seed 1, without coma.

About 60 species: Africa, Asia, America; seven species in China.