Brachylaena is a genus of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae. Several are endemic to Madagascar, and the others are distributed in mainland Africa, especially the southern regions. These are trees and shrubs with alternately arranged leaves. One of these, Brachylaena merana, is the tallest of all daisy trees at up to 40m. They are dioecious, with male and female flowers occurring on separate individuals. The flower heads are somewhat disc-shaped. Heads with female flowers are larger and produce larger pappi.

Brachylaena neriifolia, commonly known as water white alder, forms a beautiful shrub or small tree up to 6 meters in height. It has lanceolate leaves similar to Oleander and thistle-like flower heads during summer. It is well suited to moist areas of the garden.