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Herbs twining or woody vines, rarely erect, small herbs. Rootstock rhizomatous or tuberous. Stem twining to left or right, pubescent or glabrous, sometimes prickly. Leaves alternate or opposite, petiolate, simple or palmately compound, basal veins 3--13, interstitial veins reticulate; leaflets of palmately compound leaves often ovate or lanceolate. Flowers usually unisexual (when plants dioecious, rarely monoecious), sometimes bisexual, solitary, clustered, or in cymules, these in a spike, raceme, or thyrse, these sometimes grouped into panicles. Male flowers: perianth lobes 6, in 2 whorls, basally connate or free; stamens 6, sometimes 3 reduced to staminodes or absent, inserted on perianth or receptacle; ovary rudimentary or absent. Female flowers: similar to male ones; staminodes 3, 6, or absent; ovary inferior, 3-loculed, ovules usually 2 per locule (more than 2 in a few small genera), placentation axile; styles 3, free. Fruit a capsule, berry, or samara. Seeds with a membranous wing or not; endosperm present; embryo small.
Dioecious herbs with twining or trailing stems, annual or perennial from subterranean tubers. Leaves opposite or alternate, petiolate, simple or palmately compound. Inflorescence an axillary spike or raceme, often paniculate by reduction of leaves on flowering stems. Flowers actinomorphic, small. Sepals 3, connate or tubular at base. Petals 3, similar to sepals. Male flowers: stamens 6 in 2 whorls, the inner sometimes reduced to staminodes; filaments free, short; anthers 2-locular, dehiscing longitudinally; pistillode minute or absent. Female flowers: staminodes 6 or absent; ovary inferior, 3-locular; placentation usually axile; ovules usually 2 per locule; style 1; stigmas 3, entire or 2-lobed. Fruit usually a 3-lobed capsule, dehiscing along outer margin. Seeds 1 or 2 per locule, usually flat and winged; embryo in hard endosperm.
Twining herbs with annual stems arising from tubers or rhizomes, rarely stems self-supporting. Leaves alternate or opposite, often ovate-cordate, but sometimes with 3–7 digitate leaflets. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, the latter usually dioecious. Perianth segments biseriate, usually united basally. Stamens (3, 4) 6. Ovary inferior, rarely semi-inferior or superior, (1)3-locular. Fruit a dehiscent capsule, samara or berry
Leaves alternate or opposite (sometimes both on the same plant), often cordate, entire or lobulate, more or less digitately nerved or palmately compound, acumen often large and glandulose
Female inflorescences: spikes looser, longer than the male ones, solitary or paired or sometimes more numerous, in the leaf axils
Climbers (at least the West African species), spiny or not, annual or perennial with tubers annually renewed or perennial
Male inflorescences: spikes generally several in the leaf axils, sometimes clustered in racemes or compound panicles
Petiole generally twisted and sometimes jointed at the base or with more or less leathery auricles
Plants dioecious; exceptionally on the same inflorescence are clustered male and female flowers6
Perianth campanulate or spreading, 6-lobed, lobes 2-seriate, often connate at the base
Flowers placed singly along the axis or in short few-flowered lateral cymules
Fruits (in the tropical African species) 3-valved capsules
Placentation axile: 2 anatropous ovules in each loculus
Tubers toxic or edible, often protected by thorny roots
Filaments free or shortly connate; anthers 2-locular
Leaves moving, following the conditions of lighting
Bracteole generally present in oblique position
Inflorescence spicate, racemose or paniculate
Stamens 6, or 3 with or without 3 staminodes
Flowers small, inconspicuous, actinomorphic
Male flowers sessile or shortly pedicelled
Aerial tubers (bulbils) present or absent
Rudimentary ovary frequent
Basal leaves often reduced
Seeds winged, with albumen
Ovary inferior, 3-locular
Style 3, free or connate
Stems glabrous or pilose
Staminodes 0, 3 or 6
