Plants trees, glabrous or with simple hairs. Leaves alternate, entire, leathery. Inflorescences leafless panicles. Flowers bisexual, 5-merous, in dense bracteate heads; petals absent; stamens 5-10, exserted. Fruits in dense, conelike heads.
Conocarpus includes 2 species, of which is coastal in tropical Africa and America, the other is native to the coasts and inland watercourses of Somalia and Yemen but is widely cultivated.
The name refers to the cone-like fruit, "-carp" being derived from the Greek karpos, "fruit".