Herbs, annual or perennial, basally woody, erect or decumbent, much branched, hairy, rooting from lower nodes. Leaves opposite or upper alternate. Flowers solitary or in terminal spikes or racemes; bracts foliaceous. Bracteoles absent. Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed, parted to ca. middle, hairy. Corolla 2-lipped; tube tubular, often puberulent; lower lip large, 3-lobed, often plicate; upper lip short, wide, apex truncate, subemarginate, or 2-lobed. Stamens 4, didynamous, included, inserted below middle of corolla tube; filaments usually glabrous; anther locules distinct, connective often forming a stalk. Ovary hairy or glabrous. Stigma not lobed. Capsule generally enclosed by persistent calyx, 2-grooved, loculicidal; valves entire, separating from placental column; style persistent. Seeds numerous, minute.

12 species: tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia; three species in China.

The genus occurs mostly in India with few species in tropical Africa and Malaysia. There are possibly five species in China, but we have been unable to confirm the presence of Lindenbergia macrostachya Bentham and L. griffithii J. D. Hooker.