Cissus L.

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

11. Cissus quadrangularis

b. Plants not succulent; tendrils forked; seeds obtriangular, transversely rugose

7. Cissus glyptocarpa

3a. Leaves simple

4

b. Leaves compound

18

4a. Leaves subsessile

14. Cissus spectabilis

b. Leaves petiolate

5

5a. Erect shrubs

6

b. Climbers

8

6a. Seeds with angulal facets; plants pubescent

17. Cissus vitiginea

b. Seeds smooth except for the ridged raphe; plants glabrous or only the apex and the leaves beneath at first sparingly pubescent

7

7a. Leaves 20-30 x 20-25 cm; petioles 15-25 cm long; tendrils absent

18. Cissus woodrowii

b. Leaves 7-18 x 7-18 cm; petioles 4-12 cm long; tendrils present or absent

3. Cissus arnottiana

8a. Plants glabrous

9

b. Plants pubescent or tomentose, at least the young parts

13

9a. Leaves blotched with white above and purple beneath; seeds with angular facets

5. Cissus discolor

b. Leaves not variegated; seeds smooth except tor the ridged raphe, sometimes with faint ridges on sides

10

10a. Leaves oblong-elliptic. rounded at base

10. Cissus nodosa

b. Leaves ovate to suborbicular, cordate to cordate-sagittate at base

11

11a. Tendrils branched; flower buds contorted at apex

13. Cissus repens

b. Tendrils simple; flower buds not contorted at apoex

12

12a. Leaves 4.5-14 x 3-10 cm, not lobed, shallowly cordale and 3-nerved at base. shallowly distantly serrate at margins; stlpules adnate. cordate

8. Cissus heyneana

b. Leaves 18-25 x 15-20 cm. slightly 3-5 -lobed, deep cordate-sagittate and 5-nerved at base, repand-serrate at margins; stipules reniform.

15. Cissus subramanyamii

13a. Seeds smooth, except for the encircling raphe

14

b. Seeds with angular facets

15

14a. Tendrils branched; trichomes on lower surface of leaves dark coloured. usually dense; stipules pubescent; seeds ca 8 x 5 mm

12. Cissus repanda

b. Tendrils simple; trichomes on lower surface of leaves pale, usually associated with main nerves; stipules glabrous; seeds ca 5 x 4 mm

4. Cissus assamica

15a. Tomentum grey or fulvous; leaves usually 3-5 -angled or -lobed, conspicuously dentate

17. Cissus vitiginea

b. Tomentum ferruginous; leaves ovate to suborbicular, bristly serrate

16

16a. Trichomes on lower surface of leaves 2-armed; ovary glabrous at summit

2. Cissus aristata

b. Trichomes on lower surface of leaves predominantly of unbranched type; ovary pubescent at summit

17

17a. Branches pubescent; leaves dense pubescent beneath.

1. Cissus adnata

b. Branches glabrous, glaucous; leaves pubescent chiefly on nerves beneath

9. Cissus latifolia

18a. Leaves digitately 5-foliolate

6. Cissus elongata

b. Leaves 3-foliolate (or the upper only 3-lobed)

16. Cissus trilobata

List of Lower Taxa