Paullinia stipitata Cuatrec.

cm long, ternate-pinnately compound with 11 leaflets, the lowest set biternate; petiole, rachis and sometimes midrib puberulent to scabrid; petioles 1-11 cm long, viscidulous, margined on the upper surface, the lower rachis margined; upper rachis narrowly winged; blades ovate, narrowly elliptic, oblong-elliptic or oblanceolate, usually long-acuminate or sometimes bluntly acuminate at the apex, attenuate to rounded at the base, (2.5-)6-10.5 cm long, (1.3-)2.5-4 cm wide, nearly glabrous except for the frequently barbulate vein axils, glandular-punctate, entire to crenate above the middle; stipules lanceolate-linear, 6-10 mm long, viscidulous, puberulent or scabrid, becoming glabrous. Inflorescences soli-tary thyrses 3-10(-15) cm long, borne in leaf axils or on tendrils; rachis, pedicel and bracteole densely puberulent; bracteoles deltoid, less than 1 mm long. Flow-ers not known; outer sepals (persisting in fruit) puberulent outside, glabrous inside, the inner sepals glabrous. Fruits prominently stipitate, red, broadly ob-ovate, emarginate to truncate at the apex, broadly 3-winged throughout most of their length, 1?-locular, densely puberulent to glabrate outside, tomentose inside, the body of the fruit 1.5-2 cm long, the stipe 4-7 mm long; seed 1, ovoid to el-lipsoid, shiny, black, grayish-puberulent, white-arillate in the lower half. Paullinia stipitata is distinguished by its ternate-pinnate leaves with more or less glabrous leaflets except for the barbulate vein axils and by its composite woody stems and broadly winged fruits. Juvenile plants are often more pubescent, being puberulent on the lower midrib, and they often have even the upper rachis very narrowly winged.