Gymnosiphon Blume

Annual herbs, saprophytic, lacking chlorophyll. Adventitious roots arising from rhizome. Imbricating basal leaves clustered at apex of rhizome. Stems erect, usually unbranched, with few alternate, ovate, triangular or lanceolate, sessile scales sometimes containing suppressed buds. Inflorescence a lax or congested, branched cyme, terminal, few-many-flowered, rarely reduced to one flower; cyme branches up to 7 cm. long. Flowers whitish, actinomorphic, small, sessile or pedicellate. Perianth tubular, not winged, circumscissile a little below the base of the tepals after flowering; 3 outer tepals often with lateral lobing, triangular-ovate, broad, larger than the 3 inner tepals, which are very small or absent. Ovary ovoid or globose, 1-locular, with 3 parietal placentas, each placenta having 2 apical globose glands. Fruit capsule subglobose, ellipsoid or club-shaped, crowned by the persistent perianth-base, dehiscing apically or longitudinally. Seeds ovoid or subglobose, reticulate, rugose without appendages.

Worldwide: 50 species in most tropical regions of the world.

Malawi: 1 taxon.