Cotyledon is a genus of succulent plants in the family Crassulaceae. Mostly from Southern Africa, they also occur throughout the drier parts of Africa as far north as the Arabian Peninsula. Members of the genus are shrublets, generally succulent, with fleshily woody, brittle stems and persistent succulent leaves. The leaves are opposite. Leaf pairs generally are oriented at 90 degrees to their preceding and following pairs, as is common in the family Crassulaceae, but the leaf habit differs from say Tylecodon (in which the leaves are borne in spirals and are deciduous). Most plants in the genus, and those that used to be included in the genus Cotyledon, are poisonous, even dangerously so. Some have been implicated in stock losses among goats, pigs and poultry. However, many species have long been used in traditional medicine. They have been applied for many purposes, ranging from magic charms to removal of corns.

Cotyledon barbeyi is a robust, much branched, perennial, succulent herb that grows to a height of 1-2m. Its leaves are mostly basal, fleshy and vary from broadly ovate to lanceolate and even linear. Leaves can be smooth or covered with glandular hairs. This plant has pendulous red tubular flowers with a satiny sheen. The flower tube always bulges between the calyx lobes. This is the main character that distinguishes this plant from Cotyledon orbiculata. Flowering occurs between March and September. It is naturally distributed in woodland and scrub in the Northern Province and Mpumalanga in bushveld and rocky outcrops. It also extends beyond the low-lying regions of the former Transvaal into Natal and Swaziland. Cotyledon barbeyi is common in these areas and it has been found in some eastern parts of Africa to Ethiopia.