Description: Climbers, dioecious; stems without prickles; root sometimes tuberous.
Leaves peltate, palmately veined.
Flowers in axillary compound umbels, unisexual. Male flowers with sepals 6 or 8 in 2 whorls; petals 3 or 4. Filaments of stamens united into a slender column expanded into a flat disc, anthers inserted end to end at the rim of the disc, initially distinct but confluent and dehiscing as a unit. Female flowers with sepals and petals similar to male flowers.
Drupes compressed laterally; seeds with distinctive markings.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 40 species, tropical Africa, Asia & Australia. Australia: 4 species, Qld, N.S.W., N.T.
Text by G. J. Harden (1990); edited KL Wilson (June 2010)
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Stephania japonica |
|
