Small shrubs or suffrutices. Leaves opposite. Flowers usually in cymes, or solitary and axillary, or in terminal spikes or heads with reduced leaves; bracts and bracteoles sometimes spiny. Calyx 4-partite; segments unequal, leaf-like or membranous, sometimes spiny, the two outer enclosing the inner. Corolla ± actinomorphic, 4-5-lobed or ± 2-lipped, with a tubular base; lobes obovate, sometimes unequal. Stamens 2 or 4, not didynamous. Ovary 2-locular with 2 ovules per loculus. Capsule solid in upper part; seeds flat with hygroscopic hairs. Derivation of name: After Jacques Barrelier (1606-1673), a Dominican monk and French botanist Worldwide: 250 species in the tropics Botswana: 24 taxa. Insects associated with this genus:
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| Species | FZ divisions | Content |
| affinis C.B. Clarke subsp. affinis | SE | Description, Image |
| affinis C.B. Clarke subsp. producta I. Darbysh. [End] | SE | |
| albipilosa Hainz | ||
| albostellata C.B. Clarke | SE | Description, Image |
| ameliae A. Meeuse | ?N | Description, Image |
| capitata Klotzsch | N | Description, Image |
| coriacea Oberm. | SE | Description, Image |
| galpinii C.B. Clarke | SE | |
| heterotricha Lindau subsp. heterotricha | N,SE | |
| holubii C.B. Clarke subsp. holubii | SE | Description, Image |
| lanceolata (Schinz) Oberm. | SW | |
| lancifolia T. Anderson | N,SW,SE | Description, Image |
| lugardii C.B.Clarke | N | Description, Image |
| mackenii Hook.f. | N,SW,SE | Description, Image |
| macrostegia Nees | N,SW,SE | Description, Image |
| matopensis S.Moore [LR-lc] | Description, Image | |
| megalosiphon Mildbr. | ||
| pretoriensis C.B. Clarke | SE | Description, Image |
| randii S. Moore | SE | Description, Image |
| rhodesiaca Oberm. | N | Image |
| rigida Willd. ex Nees | SW | |
| senensis Klotzsch | N,SW,SE | Description, Image |
| spinulosa Klotzsch subsp. spinulosa | SE | Description, Image |
| virgula C.B. Clarke | SE | Image |