Small succulent perennials; stem short or absent; roots fibrous. Leaves rosetted, deltoid to linear, succulent, glabrous or tuberculate, margins entire, toothed or ciliate. Inflorescence axillary, racemose, subspicate, wiry, usually unbranched. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, bilabiate; perianth segments subequal, united basally, the 2 lower inner perianth segments distinctly keeled; stamens 6, included in floral tube; style subulate, stigma capitate. Fruit a loculicidal capsule; seeds angular, winged.
87 species from southern Africa, widely cultivated as ornamentals; 1 naturalised in Australia.
