Woody climber to several m long; young stems ± densely hairy but usually becoming glabrous or nearly so. Leaves pinnate with 5 leaflets, rarely bipinnate, well developed leaves often associated with the inflorescence; leaflets suborbicular to ovate, shortly acuminate to subobtuse at the apex, cordate to rounded at the base, often with a central lobe and shorter lateral lobes on each side, crenate-dentate with teeth of different sizes, glabrous to densely tomentose beneath, glabrous to sparsely pubescent above. Inflorescences generally many-flowered; pedicels 1–3 cm long; flower-buds spherical to ellipsoid, rounded to acuminate. Sepals 1–2.7 cm long, cream or white.
Range
N1 (Wagga Mts) widespread in tropical Africa.
Altitude range
intermediate altitude.
Distribution
SOMALIA Lort Phillips s.n.
Distribution (external)
Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Notes
This taxon may eventually have to be merged with C. brachiata Thunb. (1800), a taxon widespread in southern and south-central tropical Africa (see Exell & Milne-Readhead in Fl. Zamb. 1: 91–92, 1960).
