Relatively small, slender, annual or perennial glabrous herbs.
Leaves entire, sessile or shortly petiolate, alternate or opposite. Flowers 5(-6)-merous, solitary in leaf axils or in terminal racemes. Calyx divided almost base; margins usually hyaline. Corolla ± campanulate, white or pale pink (rarely bright blue or red - A. arvensis). Stamens 5. Ovary superior, spherical. Fruit a spherical or obovoid capsule, mostly circumscissile, rarely indehiscent. Seeds ellipsoid, 3-angled. Worldwide: c. 28 species in Europe, African mountains, S America and 1 pantropical species. Malawi: 5 taxa. |
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