Monocelastrus F. T. Wang & T. Tang.

Scandent to twining shrubs, deciduous or evergreen, glabrous or pubescent, with oblong or circular gray lenticels; bud scales imbricate. Leaves alternate, subentire or serrate; stipules small, linear, deciduous. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, cymose, thyrsoid, or flowers solitary. Flowers unisexual, rarely bisexual, rarely dioecious, 5-merous, greenish or yellowish white. Disk membranous or fleshy, annular to cupuliform, entire or slightly 5-lobed, intrastaminal; anthers longitudinally dehiscent, introrse. Ovary 3-locular, separate from or slightly adnate to disk; ovules erect, 1 or 2 per locule. Capsule globose, yellowish, leathery, loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds 1-6, ellipsoid, enclosed in aril; aril carnose, red to orange-red.

This genus is divided into two subgenera: Celastrus subg. Celastrus and C. subg. Racemocelastrus Ding Hou; the latter does not occur in China.

About 30 species: tropical, subtropical, and temperate zones of Asia, Australia, and North and South America, as well as Madagascar; 25 species (16 endemic) in China.

(Authors: Zhang Zhixiang (张志翔); A. Michele Funston)