Vines. Leaf blade not peltate, leathery, palmately veined. Male inflorescences axillary or on old leafless stems, paniculate. Male flowers: sepals 9 in 3 whorls, free, imbricate, outer whorl usually minute, bracteolelike, inner whorl petaloid; petals absent; stamens 9-12, filaments connate into a short column, anthers dehiscing transversely. Female inflorescences usually cauliflorous, paniculate. Female flowers: perianth 9 in 3 whorls; staminodes scalelike; carpels 3. Drupes subglobose, large, style scar terminal; exocarp leathery; endocarp bony, ± straight, reticulately wrinkled, spiny or smooth, usually with radially spreading hairlike fibers; condyle inconspicuous. Seed with rich endosperm ruminate.

Four species: SE Asia; one species (endemic) in China.