Climbing herbs, with a simple taproot, summer annual or more often biennial, forming a basal rosette in first year and developing a leafy branched scandent indefinite stem 1-3 m in second year. Lowermost leaves stalked (petiole to 9 cm), upper ones subsessile; blade slightly glaucous abaxially, pale green adaxially, ovate, 2 or 3(or 4) × pinnate; terminal petiolules cirrose; leaflets ovate or obovate, 5-15 × 5-10 mm, entire or shallowly cut into 2-4 acute or obtuse segments. Inflorescences cymose, axillary, 2-10(-20)-flowered; peduncle 2-5 cm (occasionally to 15 cm), basally shortly fused to subtending petiolar base; bracts/bracteoles early withering, 1.5-2.5 mm, lanceolate, scarious, ± dentate. Sepals early falling, broadly ovate, petaloid, ca. 2 mm, apex acuminate. Corolla white or usually pale pink with darker apex, bisymmetric, drooping, urn-shaped, 11-16 × 3-7 mm. All petals and stamens fused for most of their length, very spongy, eventually becoming detached from petiole, but remaining on capsule when withered. Outer petals each with 2 sharp keels or wings, rendering corolla sharply rectangular in cross section, apex long acuminate, base of outer petals slightly saccate, reaching ca. 1 mm beyond point of attachment of flower. Stigma shortly 2-lobed. Capsule linear-elliptic, 1.5-2 cm × 3-4 mm, 10-16-seeded, dehiscent. Seeds black, reniform, 1.5-1.7 mm, smooth. Highly autogamous. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.
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