Medium-sized liana to 15 m long, woody at base, leafy stem 3(-5) mm diam., dioecious. Probract absent. Tendrils (unbranched or) 2-branched at apex. Leaves: petiole short, older twigs with raised leaf scars; blade simple, unlobed, (narrowly) ovate-elliptic, cystoliths absent, margin entire. Flowers small, creamy-white; buds globose; perianth rotate; sepals 3 (but see note 1), concave, valvate in bud; petals 5, free, ± fleshy, conduplicate-valvate with tips inflexed in bud; receptacle shallow. Male inflorescences paniculate, many-flowered, ± pendulous; bracts small, linear, 1(-2) mm long, glabrous or hairy. Male flowers: pedicel short; receptacle (disc) broad, low; stamens 5, free, inserted on the disc, filaments short, anthers all 1-thecous, opening with apical transverse slit; pistillode absent. Female flowers in (raceme-like) panicles; pedicel short or absent; ovary clavate, imperfectly 3-locular, each locule with apically 2 pendulous ovules; styles 3, short, horizontally two-horned, separate, inserted on slightly raised truncate apex of ovary; staminodes absent or small (see note 2). Fruit rather large, capsular, elongate-cylindrical, claviform, with truncate apex opening by 3 inward curving apical valves. Seeds compressed, longitudinally winged all around the seed, faces smooth, margin faint, edge entire.
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Climbers, woody. Stem subglabrous. Leaves petiolate, undivided, margin entire. Tendrils simple or bifid. Plants dioecious; male flowers in lax pendulous panicles; female flowers in racemes. Male flower: calyx tube shortly cupular; segments 3, rarely 4, membranous, concave; corolla rotate; segments 5, apex narrow and inflexed in flower bud; stamens 5, free, all of same length, inserted on a fleshy disk; filaments short, thick; anthers oblong, 1-celled; pistillode absent. Female flowers: calyx as in male flowers; staminodes 5, very short, alternate with petals; ovary inferior, at first 3-loculed, ultimately 1-loculed; styles 3, spreading, apex bifid; ovules in each locule 2 or many, pendulous, attached in 2 series to a fleshy parietal placenta. Fruit a capsule, large, narrowly cylindric, clavate, 3-valved at truncate apex. Seeds pendulous, large, oblong, compressed, surrounded by a large membranous wing.
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