Cotyledon

Shrubs or shrublets with branches usually erect, slightly carnose but somewhat woody. Leaves opposite or rarely whorled, free, sessile, fleshy, persistent. Inflorescence a thyrse with one to several dichasia usually ending in monochasial branches; bracts on peduncle distinct and abruptly shorter than leaves; flowers usually pendulous, 5-merous. Calyx 5-partite. Corolla with 5 petals fused into a tube often longer than lobes. Stamens 10, in 2 whorls; filaments usually with a tuft of hairs where fused to lower third of corolla tube; anthers exserted, with terminal appendage spherical or almost so. Squamae +/- fused laterally to opposite carpel to form a cup. Carpels sometimes slightly fused at base, with slender styles. Seeds ellipsoid, with constriction before abruptly widening at blunt proximal end, covered with vertical ridges and dense horizontal striations in grooves. x= 9 (6, 8, 17) (aneuploids, polyploidy).