Glabrous liane; older stems with a crenulate-dentate cross-section. Latex present. Leaves opposite, petiolate. Stipules extra-petiolar. Inflorescences of axillary dichotomous cymes, without accessory flowers or branches; bracts small, acute, opposite. Flowers small, ± 2–3 mm. in diameter; buds shorter than their width. Sepals 5, small, with quincuncial aestivation. Petals very thick and fleshy, unequally imbricate. Disc absent. Stamens 3, with short filaments connate at the base; anthers with extrorse, transverse, dehiscence; pollen in tetrads, tricolporate. Ovary glabrous, 3-locular, half immersed; ovules 6–8(–12) per locule, in 2 series; style absent; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit of 3 dehiscent mericarps, each with 2 caducous valves. Seeds winged, with a marginal and a submedian vein (the raphe), inserted into pocket-like structures at the point of attachment. Embryo with a prominent radicle; cotyledons not fused, containing latex.
Home