Lianas, perhaps small trees, stems with 4 phloem arms in cross section; branchlets terete to subtetragonal without interpetiolar glandular fields, often with a ridge between opposite petioles; pseudostipules lacking or foliaceous but early deciduous. Leaves 2-3-foliolate, the terminal leaflet often replaced by a simple or trifid tendril. Inflorescence an open or contracted axillary or terminal panicle. Flowers with the calyx small, cupular, subtruncate, usually 5-denticulate or 5-setate; corolla white, often tiny, more or less infundibuliform. bilabiately split about half its length, pubescent outside; anthers glabrous, sub-exserted, the thecae divaricate, bent at the middle; pollen grains 3-colpate, the exine smooth; ovary conical, densely pubescent, the ovules 2-4-seriate in each locule. Fruit a more or less compressed linear capsule, the valves parallel to the septum, flat with a slightly or conspicuously raised margin; seeds flat, bialate with hyaline-membranaceous wings.
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