Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Dioecious, robust, climbing shrubs or lianas.

Stems: Stems often with recurved, hooked prickies.

Roots: Fibrous root system.

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Surfaces glossy; blades usually coriaceous. Petioles bearing 2 simple, caducous tendrils near base. Stipules absent but with tendril often interpreted as stipules.

Flowers: Flowers in umbels. Flowers unisexual. Perianth of 6 tepals, in 2 series. Staminate flowers with (4–)8–18 stamens, the filaments adnate to base of tepals; pistillate flowers with 6 staminodes. Ovary superior, (1)3-celled; stigmas 3, subsessile.

Fruit: Globose berry. Seeds dark brown.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range: