Seablites

Annuals, subshrubs or shrubs, glabrous or slightly pubescent with curved or short straight hairs. Stems green or red. Leaves terete or semi-terete, rarely flattened, obtuse or mucronate, with diverse anatomy and photosynthetic pathways. Inflorescences branched, flowers in clusters subtended by a leaf-bract and tiny hyaline bracteoles. Perianth of 5 segments or lobes, sometimes fused almost to the top, free or adhering to the fruit. Fruit glabrous, without papillae. Seeds monomorphic or (in annual species) dimorphic (structural heterospermy). Embryo horizontal or vertical, sometimes both types are present on the same individual (spatial heterospermy). More than 100 species distributed in all continents.