Ten of its species are mostly confined to South Africa, where unlike Tylecodon, they occur commonly in both the winter and summer rainfall regions.

Their decussate, evergreen leaves are highly variable in shape, even within some species, but the flowers, apart from colour, are very similar.

The flowers are pendulous and tubular, borne at the tips of stout, rather long peduncles, mainly in short cymes.

Each carpel contains many small (typically less than 1 milligramme when ripe) globular, brown seeds.

[7] Cotyledon species are grown as garden and indoor subjects, practically independent of irrigation in all but full desert conditions, though they cannot survive poor light or bad drainage.