Erect to sprawling, succulent herbs; stems with enlarged, often rooting nodes. Leaves alternate; petioles sheathing; blades sessile or not, simple, entire. Flowers withering rapidly, bisexual, actinomorphic or zygomorphic, solitary or on simple or paniculate, often umbelliform, helicoid cymes; sepals 3, free, imbricate, equal or 1 much reduced; petals 3, showy, free, equal or the anterior reduced; stamens 3 (Callisia), or 6 with 3 frequently longer, showy, and sterile; anthers 2-celled, the cells parallel or divergent, dehiscing longitudinally or by a terminal pore (Dichorisandra); ovary superior, 3-locular, 3-carpellate; placentation axile, the ovules 1-6, orthotropous; style 1; stigma 1, capitate or simple. Fruits loculicidal capsules; seeds 1 to several, with copious, mealy endosperm. Several taxa (Phaeosphaerion, Campelia, Dichorisandra) have colorful fruits well suited for bird dispersal. The remainder have tiny seeds in small, thin-shelled capsules. Many seeds are no doubt merely spilled. About 45 genera and 550 species; warm regions of the world.