2. Uvaria Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 536. 1753.
紫玉盘属 zi yu pan shu
Authors: Bingtao Li & Michael G. Gilbert
Narum Adanson; Uva Kuntze.
Shrubs, climbing, sometimes erect or small trees, indument with stellate hairs. Inflorescences terminal, axillary, extra-axillary, leaf-opposed, or rarely on older branches; flowers mostly solitary or paired, rarely in short racemes or few-flowered cymes. Torus depressed, pubescent or tomentose. Sepals 3, valvate, usually connate at base. Petals 6, in 2 whorls, sometimes connate at very base, each whorl imbricate. Stamens many; anther locules often oblong or linear; connectives apically truncate to rounded. Carpels many, rarely few, linear-oblong; ovules many per carpel or rarely 2 or 3, in 1 or 2 series; styles outside often pilose; stigmas usually apically 2-cleft, involute. Fruit apocarpous; monocarps mostly ± stipitate, oblong, ovoid, or subglobose, fleshy and berrylike. Seeds several per monocarp or 1 by abortion, subhorizontal, with or without a short aril.
About 150 species: Old World tropics; eight species (one endemic) in China.
L. L. Zhou et al. (Syst. Biodivers. 7: 249-258. 2009) include Cyathostemma in Uvaria on the basis of a recent molecular study, but this is not accepted by one of us (Li). See the account of Cyathostemma for more details.