Description from Flora of China Shrubs or climbers, or trees to
20 m tall. Branches terete, slightly fleshy when young; areoles
with spines; glochids absent. Leaves somewhat fleshy, sessile or
petiolate, broad, flat, pinnately veined, estipulate. Flowers
solitary, or in fasciculate, subcorymbose, racemose or
paniculate inflorescences, stalked or sessile. Receptacle not
produced into a tube beyond ovary, with numerous, ± leafy, often
persistent scales. Perianth multiseriate; segments free,
spreading or rotate, white to red, magenta or orange. Stamens
numerous, inserted at base of perianth. Ovary (pericarpel)
superior to inferior; placentas basal or parietal. Fruit
globose, pear-shaped, or obovoid, fleshy, with or without
scattered, leaflike scales. Seeds 2 to numerous; testa glossy
black, brittle. Seventeen species: tropical and subtropical
America; five species cultivated as ornamentals in China, of
which one species escaped from cultivation.