[1][4] Diversity of this group is concentrated in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia.

[5] The name Memecylon is derived from 'memaecylon' as used by ancient Greek philosophers Dioscorides and Pliny to describe the red fruits of Arbutus unedo (oriental strawberry tree), an unrelated plant group, alluding to the pink to reddish berries often produced by Memecylon.

English: "Blue mist plant", Hindi: Anjan; Malayalam: Aattukanala [ആറ്റുകനല], Kaasaavu: [കാശാവ്], Kaayaampoo: [കായാമ്പൂ]; Odia: Neymaru; Sinhala: Korakaha, Welikaha; Tamil: Kaya.

[6] Memecylon sensu lato can be diagnosed by exstipulate leaves, four-merous bisexual flowers, anthers opening by slits, enlarged connectives bearing terpenoid secreting glands and berries.

[7] Memecylon sensu stricto can be distinguished from other Memecyloids by obscure nervation on leaves, non-glandular roughened leaf surface having branched sclerids, imbricate calyx, unilocular ovary and large embryo with thick and convoluted cotyledons.

[5] Species of larger stature have a characteristic brown bark with narrow and sharp furrows, most are small single stemmed trees.

[3][7] Leaves are opposite, short-stalked, elliptic or ovate, mostly with widely spaced pinnate nerves either visible or obscure.

The florets are small (usually less than 5 mm) compared to the other taxa in Melastomataceae, with short fleshy corolla parts.

Cymes are bracteate, usually thyrsoid to umbel shaped, often condensed to sessile fascicles of flowers or a few-flowered heads at tips of peduncles.

Memecylon taxa have been reported from montane forests, tropical lowland forests, grasslands, tropical rainforests with low to high rainfall, rocky mountain regions and regions with low to high temperature and a considerable overlap between ranges of different taxa.

[5][9][8][10][11] The global distribution of this group is shown in the following Figure and some of the countries which have endemic Memecylon species are listed in the table.

[14] Later studies using combined exon and intron sequences of the nuclear glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (GapC) has supported the monophyly of Memecylon.

[16] The most recent phylogenetic analysis of Memecylon was based on low-copy nuclear loci using representative taxa across the old world tropics, and this study revealed biogeography and ancestral states of this plant group.