The genus has an "almost cosmopolitan" distribution, occurring in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Australia.

[5] The genus is the largest of the Hypoxidaceae[6][7] and has its centre of variation in South Africa,[6][8][9] where it occurs in open undisturbed grasslands.

The aboveground herbage is a layered cluster of lance-shaped, linear, or hairlike leaves, sometimes sheathed together at the bases.

The flowers are borne on a short, stemlike scape in a raceme or umbel arrangement, or sometimes singly.

[13] Archaeological evidence found in ashes in Border Cave, South Africa has revealed that early humans roasted the rhizomes of some of the more palatable species of Hypoxis as long as 170,000 years ago.