The usually paired flowers are surrounded by an 'epicalyx' – a structure resembling the calyx that is composed of involucral bracts.

Four purely Asian genera formed a subclade, distinct from the circumboreal Linnaea and the Mexican Vesalea.

[3] Linnaea Vesalea Kolkwitzia Dipelta Diabelia Abelia Linnaeoideae has a disjoint distribution.

Four genera (Abelia, Diabelia, Dipelta, and Kolkwitzia) are native to East Asia, primarily China.

The monospecific genus Linnaea has a very wide distribution throughout the subarctic and temperate Northern Hemisphere.