Dwarf annuals with narrow alternate leaves and dense terminal heads of small red or buff flowers. Calyx deeply 5-lobed, campanulate. Corolla salver-shaped, with a long slender tube. Cells of the capsule 1- or 2-seeded. A small genus whose species are confined to the western side of North and South America. The name is from the Greek glue, in reference to the glutinous coating of the seeds. When the seeds are put into water this mucous coating expands and forms a cloud around them.

1.C. coccinea, syn. C. - Cavanillesii. - This plant grows about a foot high, and is the best for ornamental purposes. The leaves are sessile and lanceolate, or oblong, and as well as the stems clothed with a somewhat clammy pubescence. The flowers vary from brick-red to buff. A native of Chili.

C. grandiflora, a Californian species, has rather larger flowers, about 10 lines long, of a buff or pink colour.