Robust shrub or undershrubs, up to 1 m high; stems terete, thick, unbranched or branched; leaves linear-lanceolate, narrowed at both ends, thick, green or blotched with white or black or all purple, scattered or crowded at the ends of branches, acuminate or caudate, narrowed into rather slender, short or obscure petiole at the base; flowers numerous in large, axillary or terminal panicles; white, greenish yellow or purple,; pedicels slender; perianth 6-lobed, erect, decurved, cleft down to the middle; stamens 6, included; ovary trilocular, ovoid, obtusely 3-gonous, cells 1-ovuled; fruits berries orange-red (not seen).