Monoecious, scandent perennial herbs; young stems green-spotted. Leaves simple, palmately lobed. Tendrils proximally 2-fid. Flowers unisexual, borne in axillary clusters. Male flowers on slender pedicles; corolla whitish or pale yellow with 5 entire lobes; stamens 3; disk undulate. Female flowers ± sessile: ovary terete; stigma 3-lobed. Fruits solitary or clustered, ± sessile, berry-like, fleshy, spherical to ellipsoid, indehiscent, red with white longitudinal stripes. Worldwide: 4 species in tropical Africa with one of the four, D. palmatus, also in Asia Zimbabwe: 1 taxon. |
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