Climbing monoecious herbs. Leaves simple. Tendrils simple. Flowers yellow. Male flowers borne in sessile axillary clusters: lobes of receptacle-tube often divided into narrow, often reflexed, lobes; corolla 5-lobed, the lobes united to at least halfway; stamens 3, all 2-thecous. Female flowers fewer than male; perianth similar to male flowers; ovary densely setose; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit subspherical to ellipsoid, bearing dense brownish bristles, dehiscent by 10 apical valves. Seeds flattened. Worldwide: 5 species in tropical Africa and Madagascar Caprivi: 2 cultivated taxa. |
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