Lianas; stems with 4 or 8 phloem arms in cross section; branchlets terete to subtetragonal, outer cortex thin and tending to peel; often with conspicuous interpetiolar glandular fields; pseudostipules subulate, usually vertically 2-3-seriate. Leaves 2-3-foliolate, the petiole usually with an apical glandular field, the terminal leaflet often replaced by a trifid tendril or a simple tendril with a peltate disc at its tip. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal panicle or raceme. Flowers with the calyx cupular to campanulate, truncate, often with plate-shaped glands in the upper part; corolla white to purple, tubular to campanulate, pub-erulous outside at least on the lobes; anthers glabrous or villous, the thecae divaricate, curved or straight; pollen grains 3-colpate, the exine finely reticulate; ovary cylindric, pustular-lepidote to papillate, the ovules 2(?-4)-seriate. Fruit a pale brown capsule, the valves parallel to the septum, extremely flat and compressed to thick and convex with a conspicuously raised midline; the seeds thin with pale translucent papery wings or thick, corky, and essentially without wings.
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