Andromonoecious scrambling, twining or scandent shrubs, heteroblastic; short shoots present, not spinescent. Main hair type uniseriate with 1–3 basal cells and an elongated terminal cell, often bicoloured with brown base and white top cell. Leaves alternate on twining branchlets, or clustered at end of branches or short shoots; adult leaves ± elliptic, discolorous. Inflorescences solitary or paired flowers, or simple and compound corymbs, or cymes with up to 10 flowers. Flowers protandrous, bisexual, with sex phase colour changes. Sepals free, spreading from base. Petals mostly clawed, briefly connivent, or free. Stamen placement is regular with approximately equal size, rarely one stamen is considerably reduced and without pollen (Pronaya group); anthers equal to or much smaller than filament; pollen gold, pink-mauve or bright blue. Pistil with basal nectary often vestigial or missing; receptacle disc present; ovary not stipitate, usually cylindrical, ± densely silky hairy or glabrous and ridged; style short, stout; stigma eventually capitate. Fruits mostly bilocular, indehiscent, either true berries with embedded seeds, or berry-like with seeds in dry cells surrounded by a papery liner; shape is fusiform, cylindrical, oblong, or ovate, sometimes with basal lobing; skin thin, usually purple-green or blue; mesocarp pithy. Seeds persisting in 2 rows per loculus, discoidal or globose, red-brown, dry, not winged.
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