Cobaea Cav.

Climbing shrubs or herbs. Leaves spirally arranged, pinnate; rachis ending in a much branched tendril, branches of tendril terminated by a minute sharp claw. Leaflets opposite, herbaceous, usually in 3 pairs, lowest pair quite near the leaf-base. Flowers solitary or geminate, axillary or on top of short branch, long pedi-celled, rather large. Calyx-tube sometimes well-developed, usually very short; segments valvate with recurved margins, either short and broad or long and narrow. Corolla campanulate, 5-lobed or 5-partite; segments short and broad or long and narrow. Stamens inserted at equal height above the base of corolla-tube; filaments filiform with a thickened hairy base, about as long as corolla or longer, sometimes much longer. Disk thick, 10-lobed. Ovary ovoid-oblong, glabrous; cells 2-∞-ovuled; style about as long as corolla or longer; style-arms linear. Capsule oblong, coriaceous or pergamaceous, septifragal, 3-valved; central column very thick. Seeds in each cell 1-∞, 2-seriate, peltately attached, large, much compressed, winged all round; testa becoming slimy when steeped in water; cotyledons large, fleshy.