Cuccuini, P. & C. Nepi (2006) Alectra in Flora of Somalia 3: 284
Plants herbs, simple or branched, hispid or scabrous, usually root parasites. Leaves absent or small, often sessile or subsessile, often scalelike, entire or toothed. Inflorescences of solitary flowers in axils of more or less leaflike bracts, sessile or subsessile; bracteoles 2. Calyces campanulate, 5-lobed, 10-veined; lobes nearly equal; corollas narrowly campanulate, longer than the calyces, persistent; lobes rounded; stamens 4, 2 long and 2 short or sometimes subequal, attached near the base of the corolla tubes, included; filaments bearded or glabrous; anthers coherent or connivent in pairs, equal or unequal, apiculate or not; ovaries glabrous; styles clavate, recurved, included. Fruits capsules, globose to ovoid, included, loculicidal; seeds numerous, linear or club-shaped, straight or curved, slender, truncate.
Alectra includes about 40 species in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, and America.