It consists of herbaceous perennials with brittle upright or drooping stems, found in dry areas of Mexico and the southern United States.

Unlike related genera, such as Maurandya and Lophospermum, the leaf stalks (petioles) are straight and do not twine.

The generic name honours Tom J. Mabry for his contributions to phytochemistry and chemotaxonomy, which Elisens says "have substantially increased our understanding of the North American flora.

The drooping or upright habit of the brittle stems distinguishes Mabrya (together with Holmgrenanthe) from the closely related genera Lophospermum, Maurandya and Rhodochiton, which have longer, flexible stems and climb by means of twining leaf stalks (petioles).

[2] A number of molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that subtribe Maurandyinae, defined by Elisen to consist of the five North American genera Holmgrenanthe, Lophospermum, Mabrya, Maurandya and Rhodochiton, forms a monophyletic group, which is related to the Old World genera Cymbalaria and Asarina.

[4] Vargas et al. presented the following cladogram in 2013:[6] other clades Asarina Cymbalaria Maurandya (including M. antirrhiniflora) Rhodochiton Lophospermum Mabrya Vargas et al. concluded that the Antirrhineae evolved in the Old World and subsequently colonized North America more than once, probably in the Miocene epoch (23 to 5 million years ago).

Mabrya acerifolia is native to the Sonoran Desert in a small area about 80 km (50 miles) across in south central Arizona.