13. Cocculus Candolle, Syst. Nat. 1: 515. 1817.
木防己属 mu fang ji shu
Nephroia Loureiro.
Woody vines, erect shrubs, or small trees. Leaf blade entire or lobed, not peltate, palmately veined. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, cymose or thyrsoid. Male flowers: sepals 6(or 9) in 2(or 3) whorls, imbricate, outer sepals smaller, inner sepals larger and concave; petals 6, apex 2-lobed, lobes divaricate, with basal reflexed auricles; stamens 6 or 9, free, anthers dehiscing with a transverse slit. Female flowers: sepals and petals as in male flowers; staminodes 6 or absent; carpels 3 or 6, style columnar, stigma reflexed. Drupes obovate or rotund, slightly flat, style scar near base; endocarp bony, horseshoe-shaped, abaxially verruculose or ridged; condyle with 2 distinct lateral chambers, each with a large lateral aperture. Seed horseshoe-shaped; embryo with radicle short; endosperm scanty; cotyledons linear and flattened.
About eight species: Africa, E, SE, and S Asia, Pacific islands, Central and North America; two species in China.
Female material of this genus is difficult to distinguish from that of the genus Pachygone.
