They are
perennial herbs, that have a thick
caudex (rootstock), or the underground tuber can be wider and broader. Overall the plant does not reach more than high. From the caudex, an unbranched stem arises, normally every year. The leaves are sub-succulent and fleshy, and very variable in shape, ranging from linear to strap-shaped, undulate to broadly oblong. They are dentate (toothed), pinnatilobed, pinnatifid (meaning
pinnately dissected to the central vein) or pinnatipartite. The solitary flowers arise from the
leaf axils, which come in a range of colours, from yellow, (sometimes suffused with purple,) brilliant orange, red, wine-red, purple to dark purple. The
calyx is small. The
corolla is funnel-shaped or narrowly cylindrical, often slightly gibbous (rounded protuberance) at the base with a reduced spur. They have 4
stamens and a
bilocular (or 2 compartmented)
ovary). The fruit (or seed capsule) is
indehiscent (does not split down the side), instead it has 4 broad longitudinal, prominent wings (which are parchment-like). The upper part of the capsule is beak-like. The seeds are variable in both shape and structure of the
testa. ==Etymology==