Woody climber; young stems slender, glabrous except at nodes, soon becoming woody with at first a smooth grey bark later becoming brownish, papery and peeling in the older stem, obscurely and bluntly spiny with the hardened remains of petiole and tendril bases.. Leaf-blade subsucculent, practically glabrous, somewhat punctate above, entire, 8–35 mm. long, 16–64 mm. broad, 3–5-lobed; lobes rounded, very variable in shape, ovate or triangular to oblanceolate-linear, broadest or narrowed at the base, obtuse or rounded at the apex, often themselves somewhat lobulate with rounded lobules; petiole 4–13 mm. long.. Dioecious or monoecious.. Male flowers in subsessile 2–7-flowered clusters; pedicels filiform, 3–4 mm. long; receptacle-tube 2.5 mm. long; petals yellowish-cream or greenish-yellow, 1.8 mm. long, 1.3 mm. broad; stamens 3; filaments long; disk obscure.. Female flowers solitary, subsessile; ovary fusiform, 3–4 mm. long, 1–2 mm. across; receptacle-tube ± 2 mm. long, hairy inside; lobes triangular-ovate, 0.5 mm. long; petals 1.5–2 mm. long, 1–1.3 mm. broad; disk obscure.. Fruit solitary on a pedicel up to 4.5 mm. long, subglobose, scarlet, 8–9.5 mm. long, 5.5–7 mm. across.. Seeds ovate in outline, lenticular, obscurely bordered, 3 × 2 × 0.5 mm.
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A woody climber. Plants can be of separate sexes or contain both sexes. The stems are slender. The leaves are fleshy and oval. They are 1-2.5 cm long by 1.5-5.5 cm wide. The base is shallowly heart shaped. The leaves have 3-5 lobes. The flowers are creamy yellow and small. The male flowers are in groups or 2-7. Female flowers occur singly. The fruit are almost round. They are pale green with dark green stripes. They turn red when ripe. They are sweet and edible.
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