Evergreen trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple. Stipules 0. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic. Sepals 4-6. Petals 4-many, overlapping. Stamens many. Ovary superior (in ours). Carpels 3-5, basally united. Fruit a capsule (in ours).
Worldwide: 22 genera and 610 species, tropical with a few in warm temperate regions.
Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated genus and 2 cultivated taxa.