Afrocarpus was designated a genus in 1989, when several species formerly classified in Podocarpus and Nageia were reclassified.

[2] In a recent treatment of Afrocarpus, only two species were recognized; A. dawei, A. gracilior, and A. usambarensis were sunk into A. falcatus.

The individuals of the largest species, Afrocarpus falcatus,[6] may reach a height of 60 meters.

A part of the scale supporting the ovule develops into a rounded fleshy covering enclosing the seed entirely known as the epimatium.

At maturity the epimatium varies in shape from subglobose to elliptic or obovoid and in color from greenish to yellow or brown.

The genus is native to Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

Gondwana broke up into the continents of South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica between 160 and 30 million years ago.