Trailing or erect, elongate, diffusely branched, annual herb; fibrous rooted; branches ascending, glabrous or sparsely hairy; leaves small, linear or narrowly lanceolate, acute to acuminate at apex, often glabrous, sessile, sheath scarious, ciliate on margins, base broad; flowers pinkish-blue, clustered in axillary fascicles in the inflated sheaths; sepals 3, free or connate at the base, subequal; petals 3, unequal, united below, limbs orbicular, long, clawed; stamens 6, all fertile, epipetalous, filaments subequal, bearded, thickened at the apex, anthers oblong; ovary sessile, 3-celled, ovules-2 in each locule, erect or pendulous, style filiform, glabrous; capsule dehiscing loculicidally, oblong-ellipsoid, acute, beak acute, 3-valved, usually 2-seeded, no free-central column often dehiscence; seeds subcylindric or conical, pitted, truncate at base.