Twining, usually fleshy, glabrous perennial herbs with potato-like tubers on their rhizomes. Leaves alternate; lamina ovate, entire, more or less cordate. Inflorescence a spike, raceme or racemose panicle; flowers bisexual. Sepals 2. Petals 5. Stamens 5, opposite petals. Styles 3. Ovary unilocular. Fruit an indehiscent, fleshy drupe, surrounded by persistent sepals and petals.

Contains 4 genera and 15 to 20 species in the tropics or subtropics.

Anredera Juss. Twining climbers with tuberous roots. Leaves alternate; lamina more or less fleshy, ovate, cordate, without stipules. Inflorescence a spike or raceme; flowers bisexual or unisexual. Perianth segments 5, united at base. Stamens 5, curved outwards in bud. Style 1, simple or 3-branched. Fruit a drupe, enclosed in the perianth, subglobose.

Contains between 5 and 10 species in tropical America.

Hooker, W. J. (1837). Boussingaultia baselloides. Bot. Mag. tab. 3620.

A. cordifolia (Ten.) Steenis Madeira Vine

Boussingaultia cordifolia Ten.; Boussingaultia baselloides auct.; Boussingaultia gracilis Miers; Boussingaultia gracilis var. pseudobaselloides (Hauman) Bailey; Boussingaultia gracilis forma pseudobaselloides Hauman

Perennial climber with oblong fleshy knotted tubers, sometimes of large size. Stems up to 6 m, rounded, woody at base, green, twining left to right, branched, glabrous. Leaves alternate, fleshy; lamina 2.5–10.0 cm, dark green on upper surface, paler beneath, ovate, acute or acuminate at apex, entire, cordate at base; petiole up to 25 mm, compressed, becoming broader above. Inflorescence an axillary raceme up to 30 cm, pendulous; pedicels with small subulate bracteoles at base and two ovate ones above; flowers bisexual or unisexual, fragrant. Perianth segments 5, united at base, white. Stamens 5; filaments curved outwards in bud; anthers yellow. Style 1, 3-lobed. Drupe not known to be produced in this country. Flowers 9–10.

Introduced. A persistent or established garden escape on a roadside at St Peter Port, Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. Native of subtropical South America; naturalised and sometimes invasive in subtropical and warm temperate regions elsewhere.