Fls 5-merous, perfect or unisexual; cal saucer-shaped, scarious, shallowly lobed; pet separate and spreading at anthesis; stamens erect and well developed in staminate fls, shorter and probably functionless in the pistillate; pistil surrounded at base by a cup-shaped, entire or lobulate disk, reduced and sterile in staminate fls; fr a berry with thin flesh and 2-4 seeds; shrubs or woody vines, with or without tendrils opposite the lvs, and with small greenish fls in cymose clusters. 20, N. Amer. and Asia.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
