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Herbaceous or woody vines, rarely erect, pubescent or glabrous. Leaves op-posite. Inflorescences umbelliform or paniculate, terminal or axillary. Flowers This content downloaded from 192.104.39.2 on Thu, 23 May 2013 11:56:49 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions128 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN [VOL. 62 generally small, tubular; calyx 5-lobed, 5-to several-glandular within at the base or eglandular, the lobes acute or obtuse; corolla campanulate to urceolate or occasionally subrotate, 5-lobed, the throat usually closed or nearly so by dense pubescence or an annulus, rarely glabrous within, the lobes obtuse; stamens inserted near the base of the corolla, the corona 5-parted, the segments adnate to the staminal column and frequently to the dorsal side of the anthers, usually free from the corolla, erect, apically free, flattened, fleshy or membranaceous, the filaments connate into a short tube, the anthers with a thin inflexed apical membrane; pollinia strictly erect, generally ovoid or narrowly oblong; stigma usually apically convex or rostrate, occasionally flat or depressed. Fruit usually single follicles, thick, + ellipsoidal in outline, smooth or occasionally longitudinally winged, pericarp often hard and woody when dry; seeds comose.
Lianas. Inflorescences terminal or extra-axillary, umbel-like, paniculate, or racemelike, pedunculate. Sepals overlapping, basal glands or scales often present. Corolla urceolate or campanulate, throat often hairy; lobes twisted to right. Corona lobes 5, erect, acuminate, fleshy, attached to gynostegium. Filaments connate into a tube; anthers erect, appendages inflexed; pollinia 2 per pollinarium, often oblong, erect. Stigma head flat, convex, or beaked. Follicles mostly thick, acuminate, smooth or longitudinally winged.
A climber in the forest. The young plant is soft and fleshy but gets more woody in mature plants.
