When broadly circumscribed to include Dendrostellera and Stelleropsis, it consists of annual and perennial herbaceous plants and small shrubs, with reddish, white or green flowers lacking petals.

It includes 16 species which range from southern European Russia and the Caucasus through Western and Central Asia through China and Mongolia to Korea and the Russian Far East.

[2] When broadly circumscribed (i.e. including Dendrostellera and Stelleropsis), Diarthron is a genus of annual or perennial herbaceous plants or short deciduous shrubs.

Prior to a review in 1982, only the annual species were placed in Diarthron, with the perennial herbs being in Stelleropsis and the shrubs in Dendrostellera.

There are usually four (sometimes five) sepals, united at the base into a tube with lobes at the end, reddish, white or green in colour.