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Lianas, woody, hermaphroditic. Tendrils racemosely 4-12-branched, young apex expanded or curving, later turning into adhesive disks or suckers. Leaves simple, 3-foliolate, or palmately 5(-7)-foliolate. Inflorescence a panicle or a loose corymbose polychasium, pseudoterminal. Flowers 5-merous. Calyx cupular, glabrous, 5-dentate. Petals free. Stamens 5. Disk inconspicuous, rarely with 5 nectaries. Style conspicuous. Berry 1-4-seeded. Seeds obovoid, chalazal knot rounded at middle; ventral raphe raised; 2 lateral ventral holes furrowed upward from base to apex; endosperm cross-section M-shaped. 2n = 40.
Deciduous or rarely evergreen lianes; bark remaining adherent, lenticellate; pith white, continuous. Tendrils branched, often with adhesive disc-like tips. Lvs palmately compound or simple, long-petiolate. Fls in lf-opposed pedunculate cymes or panicles, mostly ☿. Calyx 5-lobed, minute. Petals (4)-5, free, usually spreading, sometimes deflexed, persistent at least briefly after anthesis. Disc adnate to base of ovary, scarcely distinguishable. Ovary 2-celled; ovules 2 per cell; style very short. Berry 1-4-seeded, dark blue or blackish, often with glaucous bloom; flesh thin.
