Description: Perennials with swollen, succulent, jointed branches.
Leaves opposite, reduced to scarious lobes.
Inflorescence terminal, spike-like, with 3–12-flowered clusters in the axil of leaf-like bracts. Flowers bisexual but functionally unisexual, or the plants dioecious. Perianth 3- or 4-lobed, membranous. Stamens 2.
Fruiting perianth spongy. Embryo horseshoe-shaped.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 16 species, cosmopolitan. Australia: 3 species, all States except N.T.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs
Taxon concept:
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