Oligosmilax Seemann; Pseudosmilax Hayata.

Vines climbing, woody or somewhat herbaceous, dioecious. Stem and branches smooth, not prickly. Petiole narrowly winged basally or proximally, with a subapical abscission zone; tendrils usually present. Leaf blade usually ovate or oblong-lanceolate, main veins 5--9, outermost pair usually running along margins. Inflorescence borne in axil of leaf or scalelike bract, a solitary, many-flowered umbel; peduncle usually compressed, without a scalelike prophyll at base. Flowers small; tepals connate, forming a bottle-shaped tube with opening only at toothed apex. Male flowers: stamens 3, 6, or 9--12; filaments connate proximally or throughout, forming a column (synandrium); anthers free, introrse; connective usually projecting beyond locules. Female flowers: ovary 3-loculed; ovules 1 or 2; stigmas 3, usually recurved; staminodes 3--6. Fruit a berry, black, globose, 1--6-seeded. Seeds dark brown.

Twelve species: tropical and subtropical Asia; nine species (five endemic) in China.

(Authors: Liang Songyun (梁松筠 Liang Song-jun); Tetsuo Koyama)