Passerina

Shrublets or shrubs, ericoid, pubescent or tomentose when young. Leaves decussate, concave or closely involute, lined with woolly hairs. Flowers in terminal spikes or heads, subtended by bracts usually broader than leaves. Calyx 4-lobed; tube flask-shaped or subcylindric; lobes spreading, shorter than tube. Petals 0. Stamens 8, unequal in length, up to length of calyx lobes; 2-thecous, extrorse, opening lengthwise by slits; anemophilous; pollen globose, usually polyforate, pollen wall with a secondary reticulum. Scales 0. Disc 0. Ovary ovoid, 1-locular, with a solitary ovule; style lateral; stigma mop-like, filling mouth of calyx tube. Fruit enclosed in persistent base of calyx tube, with membranous or fleshy pericarp. Seeds with black, crustaceous testa and curved, beak-like micropyle.