Synonyms: Macfadyena APNI*
Description: Evergreen woody climbers, usually with swollen underground tubers; plants climbing by trifid, recurved (uncinate-tipped making apices claw-like) tendrils and being appressed closely to support.
Leaves opposite, compound (3-foliate), with 2 leafy leaflets and the terminal leaflet modified into a trifid (3-branched), uncinate tendril.
Inflorescences axillary, contracted, few- to several-flowered cymes or panicles, often reduced to a single flower. Calyx membranous, broad-campanulate and irregularly lobed or spathe-like and split. Corolla tubular [-campanulate], straight, lobes often imbricate. Stamens 4, exserted.
Fruit a linear capsule, compressed, coriaceous; seeds 2-winged.
Distribution and occurrence: Worldwide: c. 8 species; natural to tropical America. Australia: 1 species (naturalised).
Text by A.L. Quirico, Flora of New South Wales Vol. 3: 540 (1992), as Macfadyena; last revised May 2017, P.G. Kodela
Taxon concept: Australian Plant Census (accessed May 2017)
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