[1] He named the genus in honour of his friend, the botanist Philippe-Isidore Picot de Lapeyrouse.

The inconsistent spellings of that name no doubt led to the original genus name being spelt "Lapeirousia" and contributed to various subsequent misspellings of the genus in various reference sources, notably "Lapeyrousia".

Lapeirousia are cormous plants, usually small, and bearing deciduous leaves.

It might be slender and cylindrical, adapted to pollination by long-tongued flies, or it might be funnel-shaped.

The flowers' lobes may be subequal and spreading, or unequal with upper largest petals erect, the lower three forming a lip.

The fruit is a membranous capsule containing many small seeds, either globose or angled by pressure.

Common names are various and regional, including painted petals, cabong, chabi, koringblom (Afrikaans for "wheat flower").

[citation needed] The plants are of considerable biological and evolutionary interest because of their adaptions to particular pollinators, such as flies in the families Tabanidae, Acroceridae, Bombyliidae, and most spectacularly, Nemestrinidae.