Herbs or shrubs. Flowers either solitary and axillary or in axillary and terminal racemes. Epicalyx of 7-10 filiform to linear bracts. Calyx 5-lobed or -toothed. Corolla white, purple or pink. Ovary 5-locular; ovules 1 per loculus.
Fruit a capsule, this depressed-spherical with 5 prominent angles. Derivation of name: Named after V.F. Kosteletzky, writer of medical history Worldwide: 30 species in North America, tropical and South Africa and Madagascar Caprivi: 1 taxon. |