Cayratia tenuifolia (Wight & Arn.) Gagnepain in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 1: 348. 1911. Vitis tenuifolia Wight & Arn., Prodr. 129. 1834; M. Lawson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 660. 1875. Cissus tenuifolia. (Wight & Arn.) Heyne ex Planchon in DC., Monogr. Phan. 5: 563. 1887.

Very slender, herbaceous climbers; branches weak, subterete, striate, glabrous; tendrils slender, simple, up to 14 cm long. Leaves 5-foliolate, pedate, glabrous; petioles 2-4.5 cm long; terminal leaflets ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 3-6.5 x 1.5-3 cm, acute at apex, attenuate at base, serrate at margins; petiolules up to 5 mm long; lateral leaflets 1.5-4 x 1-2 cm, slightly oblique at base, margins and apex as in the terminal leaflets; petiolules 2-4 mm long. Inflorescences divaricately branched, cymose, 4-5 cm long; peduncles 1-2 cm long. Flowers ca 1 mm long, glabrous. Calyx truncate or obscurely lobed. Petals ca 1 x 0.7 mm, inflexed at apex. Stamens ca 1 mm long; anthers globose. Disc short. Ovary ca 1 mm across; style short; stigma capitate. Berries ca 1 cm across, 1-2-seeded. Seeds deeply corrugate on sides, 5-6 x 4-4.5 mm; adaxial surface with a longitudinal central ridge, pits absent; abaxial surface with a linear chalaza.

Fl. & Fr. : May - March.

Distrib. India: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Sri Lanka and Indo-China.

Notes. Chromosome number 2n=30 (Shetty, B.V. in Curro Sci. 27: 358- 359. 1958 & in Bibliogr. Genet. 18: 167-272. 1959; Vatsala, P. in La Cellule (Louvain) 61: 193-205. 1960).