Lianes, straggling shrubs or sometimes scarcely woody climbers. Leaves opposite, petiolate; stipules shortly sheathing; limbs entire or emarginate, often comparatively large. Inflorescence small or medium sized, in sessile several- to many-flowered panicles; bracts often conspicuous, sometimes forming an involucre. Calyx tube ellipsoid-oblong, lobes often well developed; corolla usually ± white; tube mostly narrowly cylindric, lobes small, valvate. Fruit berries globose, many-seeded, fleshy. Seeds irregularly ovoid, compressed, mostly angular.
Worldwide: Over 130 species in tropical America and tropical Africa and Madagascar.
Rwanda: 1 taxon. |
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