Raphidiocystis

Monoecious, scandent, +/-pilose herbs; stems up to 6 m long. Leaves simple, ovate in outline, unlobed to shortly palmately 3-5-lobed, petiolate. Tendrils simple. Probracts present. Flowers unisexual. Male flowers in sessile axillary fascicles, bracteate; receptacle tube short, obconic-campanulate, lobes lanceolate to broadly foliaceous, often pinnately divided into narrow or +/-expanded often deflexed lobes; corolla gamopetalous, 5-lobed, lobes entire, yellow; stamens 3, all 2-thecous; filaments arising on upper part of receptacle tube, thecae flexuous. Female flowers fewer than males and coaxillary with them; perianth similar to that of male flower, receptacle lobes usually smaller and less divided; ovary densely setose; ovules many, horizontal; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit subglobose to ellipsoid-cylindric, fleshy, densely echinate with multicellular brownish setae, dehiscent by 10 apical valves and extruding seeds and placentae. Seeds asymmetrically broadly ovate in outline, compressed; testa smooth, bordered.