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Plants annual [perennial], monoecious [dioecious], climbing or trailing; stems glabrous or hairy; roots fibrous; tendrils unbranched [2-branched]. Leaves simple or compound; blade broadly ovate or reniform to orbiculate, palmately 3–7[–9]-lobed, usually pedate, lobes broadly ovate, rhombic-ovate, ovate-oblong, or ovate-elliptic, margins coarsely and widely dentate to crenate-dentate or sinuate-dentate, [mucronulate-dentate or remotely denticulate], surfaces eglandular. Inflorescences: staminate flowers solitary, [corymbose, racemose, or umbellate], axillary; pistillate flowers solitary, from different axils than staminate; <peduncles erect at apex>; bracts <persistent>, ovate-cordate, reniform, or orbiculate-cordate [ovate, rhombic-ovate]. Flowers: hypanthium obconic; sepals 5, linear to ovate-lanceolate or ovate-acuminate; petals 5, distinct, yellow to bright yellow [greenish yellow], obovate or oblong [suborbiculate], [5–]7–25[–32] mm, glabrous, corolla rotate to broadly and shallowly campanulate. Staminate flowers: stamens (2–)3; filaments inserted near hypanthium rim, staminodes absent or 3, glandular. Fruits berrylike or capsular, <pendent>, red or red-orange to yellow-orange, oblong-fusiform to ellipsoidal, cylindric or ovoid, beaked, fleshy, thick-walled, irregularly tuberculate to muricate, muriculate, or irregularly smooth-ridged, <glabrous>, apically dehiscent by 3 valves [indehiscent or irregularly dehiscent]. Seeds 10–50, oblong to ovoid-oblong beyond narrowed base, turgid or flattened, red-arillate, margins grooved, surfaces smooth or sculptured. x = 11, 14.
Small to rather large climbers or trailers. Leaves simple, or pedately 3–7-or pedately biternately 7–15-foliolate. Tendrils simple or proximally bifid, rarely paired at the nodes and then usually spinose. Probracts usually absent. Flowers medium to large, white, cream or yellow, monoecious or dioecious. Male flowers solitary, umbellate or shortly racemose, or in many-flowered fascicles or pseudopanicles, often subtended by a prominent suborbicular sessile sheathing bract; receptacle-tube relatively short and broad; lobes entire; petals 5, free, entire, 1–3 with an incurved scale inside at the base; stamens 3 (2 double 2-thecous, 1 single 1-thecous) or 2 (1 triple (2–)3-thecous, 1 double 2-thecous), usually free; thecae arcuate, duplicate or triplicate. Female flowers solitary; ovary usually ribbed, tuberculate or papillose; ovules usually many, horizontal, less often few and pendulous and/or erect; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit rather large, ovoid-ellipsoid to elongate-fusiform, fleshy, ornamented with fleshy tubercles, spines or longitudinal wings or ridges, less often merely bluntly angled or subterete, indehiscent or dehiscent ± irregularly or often by 3 valves, and then exposing the seeds enveloped in scarlet pulp hanging from the faces of the valves. Seeds medium-sized to rather large, usually compressed, the testa nearly always ± sculptured on the faces and 1–2-grooved at the margins. Figs. 2, p. 18, 3, p. 25.
Herbs, annual or perennial, scandent or creeping. Tendrils unbranched or 2-fid. Petiole usually glandular; leaf blade suborbicular or ovate-cordate, palmately 3-7-lobed, rarely undivided, entire or dentate. Plants dioecious or monoecious. Male flowers solitary or in a raceme; pedicel often with a large bract; bract orbicular-reniform; calyx tube short, campanulate or cupular; segments ovate, lanceolate, or oblong-lanceolate; corolla yellow or white, rotate or broadly campanulate, 5-lobed; segments obovate, oblong, or ovate-oblong; stamens (2 or)3(or 5); filaments short, free; anthers coherent at first, one 1-celled, other 2-celled; anther cells reflexed, straight, or curved; connective not produced; rudimentary ovary glandular or absent. Female flowers: ovary oblong or fusiform; style elongate; stigmas 3, undivided or 2-lobed; ovules numerous, horizontal. Fruit ovoid, oblong, elliptic, or fusiform, undivided or 3-valved, usually verrucose or spinescent. Seeds few or numerous, ovate or oblong, smooth or reticulate.
Climbing or trailing monoecious or (not in Australia) dioecious herbs, annual or perennial, glabrous or pubescent. Tendrils simple or (not in Australia) 2-branched. Leaves simple, mostly palmately 3–7-lobed. Male flowers mostly solitary, bracteate; hypanthium shallow; calyx 5-lobed; corolla of 5 free petals, 1–3 with incurved scales inside at base, white or yellow; stamens mostly 3, inserted towards base of hypanthium; filaments broad; anthers free or cohering, two bilocular, one unilocular; locules curved or flexuose, duplicate or triplicate; disc absent. Female flowers solitary; flower-scapes sometimes lacking bract; perianth usually smaller than males; staminodes absent or 3; ovary ovoid to fusiform; ovules numerous, horizontal; stigmas 3, bilobed. Fruit fleshy, ovoid, ellipsoidal to fusiform, indehiscent or dehiscing irregularly by 3 valves, usually ridged or tuberculate. Seeds few to many, ovate, compressed, usually margined and sculptured.
Monoecious or rarely dioecious, tendriled, scandent or prostrate vines; stems 5-sulcate. Leaves petiolate, simple or 3-to 9-foliolate; tendrils simple or 2-branched. Staminate flowers in corymbs, racemes, or solitary, axillary; calyx campanulate, cupulate, or funnel-shaped, 5-lobate; corolla 5-lobate, rotate, or campanulate; stamens 3, rarely 2, the filaments free, the anthers connate, the thecas flexuous, forming an irregular head, ultimately free, 1 theca unilocular, 2 thecas bilocular. Pistillate flowers solitary, axillary; calyx and corolla as in the staminate flowers, ovary oblong or fusiform, 3-carpellate, each carpel few to many ovulate, ovules horizontal, the styles 3, connate, the stigmas 3, each bilo-bate. Fruit oblong, fusiform, or cylindrical, indehiscent or 3-valvate, often tuber-culate or echinate; seeds turgid or compressed, the testa smooth, rugose, or rarely sculptured.
Male flowers solitary, umbellate, shortly racemose or fasciculate, often bracteate; bracts often prominent, more or less cucullate. Receptacle-tube relatively short and broad; lobes entire. Petals 5, free, entire, obtuse to rounded or sometimes retuse, 1–3 with a ventral incurved scale at the base. Stamens 3, two 2-thecous and one 1-thecous, or less often 2, one 3-thecous and the other 2-thecous, free or sometimes with the anthers connate into a head; thecae arcuate, sinuate or triplicate.
Female flowers solitary, perianth similar to that of male flower but receptacle-tube usually much shorter and lobes often narrower and smaller; ovary ribbed, tuberculate or papillose, rarely smooth; ovules usually many, horizontal, less often few, pendulous and/or erect; stigma 3-lobed.
Fruit ellipsoid to fusiform, tuberculate, spiny, winged or ribbed, rarely smooth, indehiscent or dehiscent into 3 valves and exposing seeds enveloped in bright red pulp.
Seeds usually compressed, with sculptured faces and grooved margins with a slight erose median ridge.
Leaves simple or pedately ternately or 2-ternately 3–21-foliolate.
Flowers white, cream, yellow or orange, monoecious or dioecious.
Prostrate or scandent, usually herbaceous plants.
Tendrils simple or 2-fid.
