Herbs, climbing. Stem and branches slender. Tendrils 2-fid. Petiole slender; leaf blade ovate-cordate, membranous, pubescent at first, ultimately glabrescent, scabrous, margin irregularly dentate. Plants dioecious. Male flowers in raceme or rarely solitary; calyx tube elongate, narrowly funnelform; segments 5, linear; corolla yellow, subrotate, 5-partite; segments obovate, entire; stamens 3, included, inserted on calyx tube; filaments free, short; anthers connate, one 1-celled, others 2-celled; anther cells straight; connective narrow; pistillode subulate. Female flowers solitary; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes absent; ovary narrowly ovoid, 3-locular, 1 or 2 ovules in each locule; ovules ± horizontal; style filiform, elongate; stigmas 3, oblong, apex 2-lobed. Fruit broadly fusiform, distinctly 3-angled, ribbed, dry, deeply 3-valved. Seeds subquadrate, compressed, slightly corrugate.

One species: Bhutan, SW China, N India, Nepal.

(Authors: Lu Anmin (路安民 Lu An-ming); Charles Jeffrey)