Perhaps the best-known (and most popular in cultivation) genera from the family are the unusual Anigozanthos and Macropidia, both commonly called "kangaroo-paw" or "kangaroo's paw" due to their fuzzy flowers.

These genera are hugely popular in both private gardens and public landscaping projects in Mediterranean climate regions, such as in Chile, northwestern Mexico (Baja California), Southern California (and the Bay Area) and Western Australia, among other locations; the kangaroo-paws are valued for their hardiness, adaptability and low irrigation requirements, once established.

An alternative name has been Haemodoreae[4] The fourth Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (unchanged from the earlier APG systems of 2009, 2003 and 1998), also recognizes this family and places it in the order Commelinales, in the clade commelinids, in the monocots.

[7] Blancoa Conostylis Phlebocarya Macropidia Anigozanthos Tribonanthes Dilatris Haemodorum Lachnanthes Barberetta Wachendorfia Schiekia Xiphidium Pyrrorhiza Haemodoraceae is characterized by distichous leathery leaves, which are alternate, succulent, rather large and often ensiform, with entire margins and parallel veins.

The wooly-haired flowers grow at the end of a leaflet stalk, in cymes (with lateral branches), panicles or racemes.