Lianas, usually woody, hermaphroditic or polygamo-monoecious. Tendrils usually 2- or 3-furcate, rarely racemosely branched. Leaves 3-foliolate or pedately 5-foliolate. Compound dichasium or corymbose polychasium. Flowers 4-merous. Petals 4, spreading, falling off separately. Stamens 4. Disk well developed, 4-lobed or undulately lobed. Style short; stigma slightly or inconspicuously expanded. Berry globose or nearly so, 1-4-seeded. Seeds semiglobose; cross-section of endosperm semicircular or T-shaped.

Cayratia dichromocarpa (H. Léveillé) Rehder (J. Arnold Arbor. 15: 27. 1934; Vitis dichromocarpa H. Léveillé, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 3: 350. 1907), described from Guizhou, and Cayratia setulosa (Diels & Gilg) Suessenguth (Mitt. Bot. Staatssamml. München 1: 353. 1953; Cissus setulosa Diels & Gilg, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29: 466. 1900), described from Chongqing, could not be treated here because no material was seen by the authors.

About 60 species: Africa, Asia, Oceania; 17 species (nine endemic) in China.

(Authors: Ren Hui (任辉); Jun Wen (文军))