麻核藤属 ma he teng shu

Shrubs climbing. Leaves alternate, very long petiolate, abaxially densely hairy, adaxially sparsely strigose, margin sinuate, mucronate by excurrent veins. Plants dioecious. Racemes elongate, sparsely flowered, fascicled in axils. Flowers small. Staminate flowers: calyx 4-lobed; corolla tubular, connate for more than 2/3, apex 4-cleft; stamens 4; filaments broadly filiform, flat, free; anthers elliptic-ovoid, small; ovary densely tawny hispid. Pistillate flowers: calyx and corolla as in staminate flowers; anthers small; ovary ovoid, hirsute. Drupe ovoid, compressed, polygonous reticulate.

One species: China, Myanmar.

Lower Taxon

• Natsiatopsis thunbergiifolia Kurz