Climbing, scandent or erect shrubs. Leaves decussate. Flowers in axillary
dichotomous cymes or panicles, sometimes crowded on short shoots. Calyx
lobes 5, small, imbricate. Petals 5, imbricate. Disc inconspicuous, mostly fused
with the ovary, the uppermost part slightly extended outwards. Stamens 3,
inserted at the base of the pistil. Ovary 3-loculed; styles short; stigma obscure;
ovules usually 2 in each locule. Fruit capsular, consisting of 3 divergent separate
follicles. Seeds with a basal more or less transparent membranous wing.
In the old world tropics of Central and West Africa and Indo-Malaya;
7 species, 3 in India.
KEY TO THE SPECIES
1a. Flowers in panicles or thyrsiform; petals 2.5-3 mm long;
capsules usually 6-seeded
