Perennial, much branched shrub, branchlets somewhat compressed or tetragonous; leaves subsessile, oblong or elliptic, obtuse or acuminate at apex, rounded or cordate at base, very rarely narrowed, nerves 8-10 pairs coriaceous; stipules interpetiolar, cuspidate; flowers bright scarlet, sometimes yellow or pink, numerous in dense, corymbiform, sessile or peduncled trichotomously branched, often corymbose cymes; bracts-bracteoles subulate, not sheathing; calyx tubular, 4-toothed, teeth acute, triangular; corolla tube very long, slender, lobes ovate, spreading, twisted in bud; stamens-4, on the mouth of corolla, filaments very short or absent, anthers slender, often mucronate; ovary 2-celled, style filiform, deciduous, exserted, stigma slender, fusiform, ovule solitary, peltate, attached to the septum in each cell; drupe red, globose or didymous with 2 plano-convex or ventrally concave pyrenes; seed peltate.