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 Malawi: 10 taxa. The larvae of the following species of insect eat species of this genus: |
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