Nephroia Loureiro.

Woody vines, erect shrubs, or small trees. Leaf blade entire or lobed, not peltate, palmately veined. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, cymose or thyrsoid. Male flowers: sepals 6(or 9) in 2(or 3) whorls, imbricate, outer sepals smaller, inner sepals larger and concave; petals 6, apex 2-lobed, lobes divaricate, with basal reflexed auricles; stamens 6 or 9, free, anthers dehiscing with a transverse slit. Female flowers: sepals and petals as in male flowers; staminodes 6 or absent; carpels 3 or 6, style columnar, stigma reflexed. Drupes obovate or rotund, slightly flat, style scar near base; endocarp bony, horseshoe-shaped, abaxially verruculose or ridged; condyle with 2 distinct lateral chambers, each with a large lateral aperture. Seed horseshoe-shaped; embryo with radicle short; endosperm scanty; cotyledons linear and flattened.

Female material of this genus is difficult to distinguish from that of the genus Pachygone.

About eight species: Africa, E, SE, and S Asia, Pacific islands, Central and North America; two species in China.