Velloziaceae

Herbs or shrubby perennials; stems woody-fibrous, black or dark brown, bearing overlapping persistent leaf bases. Leaves with parallel folds or rolled in the dry season, either basal or clustered at the ends of the branches. Inflorescences terminal, with 1-few flowers in clusters. Flowers bisexual. Corolla blue, dark purple, white or yellow, with 6 free or united segments arranged in 2 whorls. Stamens 6, anthers linear. Ovary inferior, usually covered in outgrowths (trichomes), 3-locular with many ovules in each loculus; style simple. Fruit a dry, hard capsule. Seeds wrinkled, black.

Worldwide: 8 genera and 288 species, South America, Africa, Madagascar and South Arabia.

Malawi: 1 genus and 9 taxa.