Mitracarpus Zucc. ex Schult. & Schult.f.

Erect or prostrate annual or perennial herbs with 4-angled stems. Stipules connate with the petioles to form a sheath. Leaves opposite; lamina linear-lanceolate to ovate or broadly elliptic. Inflorescence dense spherical sessile terminal or axillary heads. Calyx tube obconic, obovoid or subglobose; teeth 4–5, 2 often longer; corolla salver-shaped or funnel-shaped, lobes 4. Fruit a thin circumscissile capsule, the upper part splitting off together with the calyx lobes, the septum persistent. Seeds oblong or globose, endosperm fleshy.

Worldwide: 30-40 species mostly in South America.

Burundi: 1 taxon.