[1] Three of the species are native to tropical Asia, with the rest occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rotheca was revived in 1998 as a result of phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences.

[1] Rotheca is a genus of shrubs, subshrubs, and herbaceous perennial plants, with a few becoming lianas or small trees.

In 1895, John Isaac Briquet included Rotheca in his rather broad circumscription of Clerodendrum.

[7] The genus Rotheca was revived in 1998, based on molecular phylogenetic work, some of which was not published until 1999.

[9] The transfer of species from Clerodendrum to Rotheca continues in a piecemeal fashion, and is mostly for the compilation of local floras.