Shrubs. Stems prickly, scrambling or trailing. Stipules free or adnate to base of petiole. Leaves 3-foliolate or imparipinnate with 2-3(-4) pairs of leaflets; upper leaves sometimes simple; leaflets serrate. Flowers in many-flowered racemose or paniculate inflorescences at the ends of the branches. Flowers bisexual, usually 5-merous, actinomorphic. Calyx segments 5. Petals 5, sometimes 0. Stamens numerous. Carpels many. Fruit a head of many 1-seeded drupelets. Worldwide: 250 species, cosmopolitan, but mainly northern temperate Zimbabwe: 4 taxa. Insects associated with this genus:
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Species | FZ divisions | Content |
apetalus Poir. | N,C,E,S | |
niveus Thunb. | N,C,E | Description, Image |
pinnatus Willd. | E | |
rigidus Sm. | N,C,E,S | Description, Image |