Subshrubs. Stem much branched, glabrous; bark fissured, corky. Leaves alternate, loosely arranged, linear, terete, fleshy. Flowers usually 1-3-clustered, borne on apex of dwarf, single-internode branches, bisexual; bractlets in 1(or 2) pairs below flower cluster, resembling leaves. Perianth laterally compressed; segments 5, 2 outer and 3 inner, oblong, adaxially concave, hardened in fruit, with an abaxial, transverse wing borne below apex. Stamens 5; filaments narrowly linear, flattened, bases expanded and connate; anthers oblong-cordate, apex without an appendage. Ovary cylindric, somewhat compressed; style short; stigmas 2, recurved, subulate. Utricle enclosed in perianth, globose, slightly compressed laterally; pericarp membranous, free from seed. Seed vertical; testa membranous; embryo planospiral; perisperm absent.

One species: China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia.