Herbs, climbing, annual or perennial. Leaf blade simple, unlobed or palmately 3-7(-9)-lobed, rarely compound and 3-5-foliolate, margin usually denticulate. Tendrils usually 2-5-fid, rarely simple. Plants dioecious, rarely monoecious; flowers usually white, rarely pink or red. Male flowers usually in racemes, rarely solitary, sometimes male peduncles in axillary pairs, one 1-flowered, caducous, other bearing a raceme; bracts variable in size and form, rarely absent; calyx tube cylindric, frequently dilated at apex; segments 5, entire, serrate, or laciniate; corolla segments 5, usually long fimbriate; stamens 3, inserted on calyx tube; filaments very short, free; anthers connate, two 2-celled, other 1-celled, cells conduplicate. Female flowers solitary, very rarely in racemes; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary inferior, ovoid or fusiform, 1-loculed with 3 parietal placentas; ovules usually many, generally horizontal, half pendulous; style slender; stigmas 3, entire or bifid. Fruit globose, ovoid, or fusiform, fleshy, usually glabrous and smooth, many seeded, indehiscent. Seeds packed in pulp, 1-loculed, oblong or ovate, and compressed, or 3-loculed, turgid, with 2 lateral locules empty. Herbs, climbing, annual or perennial. Leaf blade simple, unlobed or palmately 3-7(-9)-lobed, rarely compound and 3-5-foliolate, margin usually denticulate. Tendrils usually 2-5-fid, rarely simple. Plants dioecious, rarely monoecious; flowers usually white, rarely pink or red. Male flowers usually in racemes, rarely solitary, sometimes male peduncles in axillary pairs, one 1-flowered, caducous, other bearing a raceme; bracts variable in size and form, rarely absent; calyx tube cylindric, frequently dilated at apex; segments 5, entire, serrate, or laciniate; corolla segments 5, usually long fimbriate; stamens 3, inserted on calyx tube; filaments very short, free; anthers connate, two 2-celled, other 1-celled, cells conduplicate. Female flowers solitary, very rarely in racemes; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary inferior, ovoid or fusiform, 1-loculed with 3 parietal placentas; ovules usually many, generally horizontal, half pendulous; style slender; stigmas 3, entire or bifid. Fruit globose, ovoid, or fusiform, fleshy, usually glabrous and smooth, many seeded, indehiscent. Seeds packed in pulp, 1-loculed, oblong or ovate, and compressed, or 3-loculed, turgid, with 2 lateral locules empty.General Information
Source: [
Flora of China @ efloras.org
General Information
