Herbs, annual, not rhizomatous, to 3 m. Stems scandent or climbing, rarely prostrate, freely branched, herbaceous, glabrous to papillose or scabrid, not glaucous. Leaves: ocrea usually deciduous, tan or brown, cylindric to funnelform, 1.5–3.5 mm, margins oblique, face not fringed with reflexed hairs and slender bristles at base, otherwise glabrous or scabrid; petiole 0.3–2.5 cm, glabrous or scabrid in lines; blade triangular to hastate, 2–8 × 1–5 cm, base cordate to truncate, margins wavy, scabrid, apex acute to acuminate, abaxially and adaxially faces glabrous or papillose to scabrid, not glaucous, the abaxial rarely minutely dotted. Inflorescences axillary, erect or spreading, racemelike, 2–20 cm, axes glabrous or scabrid; peduncle 0.1–6 cm or absent, glabrous or scabrid. Pedicels ascending or spreading to deflexed, articulated distally, 4–8 mm, glabrous. Flowers bisexual, 2–6 per ocreate fascicle; perianth accrescent in fruit, greenish white or pinkish, 3.5–7 mm including stipelike base, glabrous; tepals elliptic to obovate, apex obtuse to acute, outer 3 winged; stamens 8; filaments flattened proximally, pubescent proximally; styles connate; stigmas capitate. Achenes included, black, 2–4 × 1.8–2.4 mm, shiny, smooth; fruiting perianth glabrous, wings flat or, less often, undulate or crinkled, 1.5–2 mm wide, usually truncate or attenuate-decurrent on stipelike base nearly to articulation, margins entire or rarely undulate-crenate. 2n = 20.
