Cladostachys D. Don.

Herbs erect or scandent, or clambering shrubs. Leaves alternate, petiolate. Inflorescences racemes or spikes, axillary or terminal. Flowers bisexual or unisexual; each flower with 1 bract and 2 bracteoles. Tepals 5, rarely 4, scarious, glabrous. Stamens 5, rarely 4; filaments basally connate into a cup; anthers 2-loculed. Ovary ovoid or subglobose, 1-loculed; ovules few to many; stigmas 2 or 3, rarely 4, linear or terete, united at base; pseudostaminodes absent. Berry globose, broadly ellipsoid, or obovoid, thinly walled, indehiscent. Seeds few to many, shiny black or brownish black, circular or reniform, very finely verruculose or smooth.

About seven species: Africa (Madagascar), Asia, Australia; two species in China.