Herbs or shrubs, stems tending to be fleshy, often with enlarged nodes; leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled, often palmately nerved, often fleshy, with or without stipules; flowers perfect, borne in spikes, reduced to a 1-celled ovary with 1 basal ovule and 2 or more hypogynous stamens, all borne in the axil of a minute scalelike or peltate bract; fruit a berry or a markedly glutinous achene. Six genera and more than 1000 species in all tropical countries.