Flora of North America species comparison

tuberous, fleshy to woody.

erect, simple or branching, sometimes suffrutescent.

alternate or subopposite, short-petiolate or subsessile, articulate at base, not clasping, attachment points round;

blade broadly planate, 1–7 cm wide, succulent or semisucculent, margins entire.

lateral and/or terminal, paniculate, racemose, or cymose, not appearing secund, few- to many-flowered;

peduncle very short to elongate.

pedicellate;

sepals deciduous or persistent, distinct;

petals fugacious, 5 or rarely more, distinct;

stamens 15–35, distinct, anther 2-locular, oblong;

gynoecium 3[–5]-carpellate, ovary superior, placentation free-central, style 1 [absent], stigma(s) 1 or 3[–5].

capsular, longitudinally and tardily dehiscent from apex, 3[–5]-valved;

valves wholly or partly deciduous, erect;

exocarp and endocarp distinctly differentiated, sometimes separating, then endocarp persistent.

many, black, ± compressed, circular-reniform, ca. 1 mm, strophiolate;

seed coat lustrous, minutely tuberculate or striolate, pellicle absent.

= 12.