Climbing herb up to 3 m. long usually drying a bright olive green; stems pale, striate with dense ? rhaphides in grooves, glabrous except within the stipules or with sparse to fairly dense gland-tipped hairs; tendrils present.. Leaves drying thin, sometimes tinged red, (3–)5-foliolate; leaflets narrowly ovate to elliptic, 2.5–12(–14) cm. long, 1–6.3(–7) cm. wide, acute to shortly acuminate at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, shallowly crenate-serrate the sérrations short or almost subulate, glabrous but densely covered with rhaphides, sometimes with very few reddish discoid glands beneath; petiole 1–5 cm. long; petiolules 0.1–1.2 cm. long, glabrous or sometimes with very few to ± dense gland-tipped hairs; stipules ovate-lanceolate, 0.9–2 cm. long, 0.35–1 cm. wide with same texture and rhaphides as leaflets.. Cymes terminal on lateral shoots, ± dense, 3–21 cm. wide, ± glabrous except at main junctions of axes or axes ± ferruginous pubescent and sometimes with gland-tipped hairs in Usambaras and outside E. Africa; peduncles 1–5 cm. long; pedicels 2–4(–10) mm. long, glabrous or with dense gland-tipped hairs; bracts and bracteoles linear-lanceolate, 2–7 mm. long, ciliate and glandular or ± glabrous.. Buds oblong, 1.5–2 mm. long, ± 4-lobed at apex in dry state, the lobes projecting laterally, puberulous or glabrous except for petal junctions.. Calyx 1.2 mm. wide, subentire or vaguely lobed, glabrous, puberulous, or ciliate.. Petals cream or greenish, tipped reddish pink, narrowly triangular, 2 mm. long.. Fruits deep red-purple, ellipsoid, 8 mm. long, 5 mm. wide with gland-tipped hairs 0.5–1 mm. long and with some ± sessile glands on sides and also sometimes pubescent as well.. Seed ellipsoid-oblong, 5.5–7 mm. long, 3.5–5.5 mm. wide; base produced; ventral ridge strong and 2 broad raised areas or pointed tubercles on each side of it (lacking in one F.Z. specimen); median dorsal ridge evident or lacking, the laterals much finer raised lines with about 4 coarse tubercles or ± 7 sharp ridges on each side between, also 1–2 transverse ridges and variable fine tuberculation on sides apart from projections from the basal ventral raised areas but these are lacking in one F.Z. specimen which has the sides smooth.
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