Herbs, not rhizomatous or stoloniferous; caudex erect, slender, bearing bulbils at base. Flowering stems erect to ascending, leafy, 10-40 cm, stipitate-glandular. Leaves in basal rosette and cauline; cauline leaves conspicuous, reduced and bractlike distally; stipules present; petiole glabrous; blade reniform to orbiculate, 5-13-lobed, base cordate, ultimate margins irregularly serrate to crenate-dentate, apex obtuse to acute, surfaces glabrous; venation palmate. Inflorescences compound, dichasial cymes, terminal from terminal bud in basal rosette, 5-18-flowered, bracteate. Flowers: hypanthium free from ovary, greenish to purple; sepals 5, greenish to purple, (narrowly triangular to triangular-ovate); petals 5, greenish with purple margins or reddish purple to dark purple; nectary tissue not seen; stamens 5; filaments filiform; ovary nearly superior, 2-locular, ovaries connate 1/4-1/2 their lengths; placentation axile; styles 2; stigmas 2. Capsules 2-beaked. Seeds dark brown, prismatic (or angular) and fusiform, minutely tuberculate. x = 7.

Both the monograph by R. J. Gornall and B. A. Bohm (1985) and the molecular systematic work of D. E. Soltis et al. (1993) support a close relationship among Bolandra, Boykinia, and Suksdorfia. Other genera that appear to be closely related to these are Jepsonia, Sullivantia, and Telesonix (Soltis et al.).