Monoecious; fls 6-merous, the cal small, the rotate cor deeply lobed; stamens united by their filaments into a column, the anthers connivent, nearly straight; ovary in ours bilocular with 2 erect ovules in each locule; style with a broad, lobed stigma; fr bladdery-inflated, at length dry, dehiscent by 2 pores at the summit; herbs with branched tendrils, angular or lobed lvs, and small white or greenish fls, the staminate in long racemes, the pistillate short-peduncled, solitary or in small clusters. Monospecific.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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