Herbs perennial, with a creeping rhizome. Stem erect, simple or distally branched. Leaves alternate, sessile, ovate to lanceolate, thin, many veined, base sometimes amplexicaul. Flowers usually 1 or 2 on an axillary, slender peduncle partly adnate to stem, rarely 2--4 flowers in a terminal inflorescence. Flowers campanulate or subrotate. Tepals 6, free, outer ones usually slightly wider than inner. Stamens 6, inserted at or near base of tepals; filaments usually flat at base; anthers basifixed. Ovary 3-loculed; ovules (2 or 3 or)6--8 per locule. Style columnar or very short. Fruit a berry, globose, several to many seeded.

About ten species: temperate regions of the N hemisphere; five species (two endemic) in China.

(Authors: Chen Xinqi (陈心启 Chen Sing-chi); Minoru N. Tamura)