Cyphostemma
(Planchon) Alston
Erect, prostrate, rambling or climbing herbs or shurbs; tendrils leaf-
opposed or absent. Leaves usually 3-9-foliolate, digitate, rarely simple, petiolate
or sessile; stipules conspicuous. Inflorescences axillary or pseudo-terminal.
corymbose cymes, pedunculate. Flowers bisexual, lageniform. Calyx truncate
or 4-lobed. Petals 4, free, oblong, hooded at apex. Stamens 4: filaments filiform.
Disc of 4 fleshy. truncate or conical glands, adnate to ovary but free from
each other. Ovary glabrous or hairy; style subulate; stigma minutely 2-fid
or subentire and minutely subcapitate. Berries usually globose, 1-seeded. Seeds
with a dorsal crest and often rugose; endosperm M-shaped in cross section.
Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, India and Sri Lanka with most of the species endemic to Africa; ca 200 species, 2 in India.
Notes. This genus was earlier treated as a sections or subgenus under Cissus However, the present authors have followed, Alston [in Trimen, Handb. Fl. Ceylon 6 (suppl.): 53. 1931] and Descoings [in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 16: 113. 1960] maintained it as a distinct genus.
Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, India and Sri Lanka with most of the species endemic to Africa; ca 200 species, 2 in India.
Notes. This genus was earlier treated as a sections or subgenus under Cissus However, the present authors have followed, Alston [in Trimen, Handb. Fl. Ceylon 6 (suppl.): 53. 1931] and Descoings [in Notul. Syst. (Paris) 16: 113. 1960] maintained it as a distinct genus.
KEY TO THE SPECIES
| 1a. Leaves 5-foliolate; petioles 7-15 cm long; berries glabrous. | 1. Cyphostemma auriculatum |
| b. Leaves 3-foliolate, subsessile; berries glandular-hispid. | 2. Cyphostemma setosum |
