Climbing or erect, shrubs. sometimes herbaceous. rarely small trees;
tendrils leaf-opposed or absent. Leaves simple, unlobed or lobed, rarely digitately
3-7-foliolate, petiolate or rarely subsessile, membranous to leathery. Inflorescences
leaf-opposed, compound, umbellate cymes, pedunculate. Flowers bisexual;
flower buds not constricted in middle. Calyx truncate to shallowly 4-lobed,
glabrous to hairy. Petals 4, free, hooded at apex. Stamens 4; filaments short.
Disc cup-like, truncate or 4-lobed, usually prominent, adnate to ovary. Style
subulate; stigma minute or subcapitate. Berries globose to obovoid, 1(-2)-seeded. Seeds usually obovoid with an encircling raphe, abruptly narrowed
at base, smooth or coarsely reticulate; endosperm M- or .. -shaped in cross-section.
Chiefly pantropical in distribution; ca 150 species, 18 in India.
Notes.
Planchon (in DC., Monogr. Phan. 5: 471-472. 1887) recognised
the following sections under the genus Cissus: Cissus ("Eucissus"), Cayratia (A.L.
JUSS.) Planchon and Cyphostemma Planchon. The last two sections
are nowadays recognised as distinct genera.
KEY TO THE SPECIES
1a. Branches quadrangular or 4-winged, very rarely flat and
2-winged
2
b. Branches terete or obscurely angled
3
2a. Plants succulent; tendrils simple; seeds obovoid, smooth
except for the ridged raphe