ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comprehensive review of Alafia which is a genus of plant in the family Apocynaceae found in tropical and southern Africa. It presents information on character, habitat, phenotypic charater and distribution of A.caudata, A.erythrophthalma, A.lucida, A.microstylis, A.orientalist, A.zambesiaca, and A.schumannii. Leaves opposite, petiolate; ochreae often widened into intrapetiolar stipules. Inflorescence terminal, sometimes also axillary, cymose, few- or many-flowered, lax to very dense; peduncle mostly short; flowers open during the day, mostly fragrant. Sepals connate at the extreme base, ciliate, mostly with colleters within. Fruit of two separate, thin walled, long and linear follicles, dehiscent on adaxial side; seeds with a short wing at the base and a hairy coma longer than the grain attached at the apex or on a beak at the apex.
