Herbs, scandent or creeping, annual. Stem and branches scabrous, hispid. Tendrils slender, simple. Leaf blade almost orbicular, reniform, or cordate-ovate, undivided or palmately 3-7-lobed. Plants monoecious, rarely dioecious, or flowers hermaphroditic. Male flowers fascicled or solitary; calyx tube campanulate, 5-lobed; segments subulate; corolla rotate or subcampanulate, 5-lobed; segments oblong or ovate; stamens 3, free, inserted on corolla tube; anthers oblong, one 1-celled, two 2-celled; anther cells linear, reflexed or curved; connective produced; rudimentary ovary glandular. Female flowers solitary or fascicled; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes 3, subulate; ovary cylindric; ovules numerous, horizontal; style short; stigmas 3-5. Fruit polymorphic, fleshy, indehiscent, smooth or verrucose. Seeds numerous, compressed, emarginate.

About 32 species: tropical and temperate regions, most species in Africa; four species in China.

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