Cenesmon Gagnepain.

Subshrubs, twining or climbing, monoecious; indumentum of simple and stinging hairs. Leaves alternate; stipules conspicuous, persistent; leaf blade simple, palmately 3-5-veined. Inflorescences terminal or leaf-opposed, unbranched, bisexual, male flowers distal, female flowers proximal. Male flowers: calyx base somewhat hollowed with raised rim, calyx lobes 3, valvate; petals absent; disk absent; stamens 3, erect, alternate with lobes; filaments free, short and thick; connective thickened, produced into a linear, reflexed appendage, locules distinct, divergent, introrse; pistillode absent. Female flowers: sepals 3 or 6, accrescent; ovary 3-locular, strigose; ovules 1 per locule; styles 3, base connate, upper parts spreading, plumose-papillose. Fruit a capsule, 3-locular. Seeds globose; testa crustaceous, with a fleshy coat.

Eleven species: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, NE India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; three species (two endemic) in China.

(Authors: Qiu Huaxing (丘华兴 Chiu Hua-hsing, Kiu Hua-shing, Kiu Hua-xing); Lynn J. Gillespie)