Perennial, much branced, glabrous, twinning herb; stem long, pink or pale purple, slender, fleshy, glabrous; leaves alternate, broadly ovate or cordate, subsucculent, entire; flowers white or red, bisexual, sessile in lax, axillary spikes; peduncles often thickened, bract minute, caducous; bracteoles united into 2-lipped cup, adnate to fleshy perianth; lobes-5, short, incurved; stamens-5, on the mouth of the tube, filaments short, erect, anthers versatile; ovary 1-locular, ovule solitary, stigmas-3, linear or clavate; urticles black or dark purple berry enclosed within the persistent perianth; seeds erect, subglobose, black.