Plants shrubs or perennial herbs. Leaves simple, entire. Inflorescences dense, terminal spikes; bracts persistent, usually pungent; bracteoles 2, narrow. Calyces deeply 5-lobed, lobes equal; corollas blues or white, 2-lipped, tubes usually shorter than the lobes; lower lips 3-lobed; upper lips narrowly elliptic, usually entire; stamens 2, held between the lips diverging; anthers 2-celled, straight, held at right angles; ovaries 2-celled, with 2 ovules per cell; styles filiform, usually somewhat hairy; stigmas 2-lobed, equal, oblong-elliptic. Fruits club-shaped, 1-2(-4) seeded; seeds flattened, smooth, tuberculate, or glandular-glochidiate.
Megalochlamys includes 10 species, all native in eastern and outhern Africa with two species extending into the Arabian peninsula.