Lianas, the branchlets terete, with or without interpetiolar glandular fields; pseudostipules small or lacking. Leaves simple to 3-foliolate; terminal leaflet sometimes replaced with a simple tendril. Inflorescence a terminal panicle, often on a short lateral branch. Calyx cupular, 5-denticulate, the teeth sometimes long and conspicuous; corolla magenta, tubular-funnel-shaped, puberulous outside. Stamens didynamous; anther thecae bent in middle and reflexed forward. Ovary linear-cylindric, lepidote; ovules 2-4-seriate in each locule; disk pulvinate. Fruit a linear or oblong capsule, the valves ± woody or subwoody, parallel to the septum, with conspicuously raised ± winged lateral margins or with 2 submarginal ridges, in either case with a ± evident central furrow on each valve. Seeds thin, 2-winged, the wings hyaline-membranous.
Neotropics from eastern Panama to Argentina, most diverse in Brazil; 12 species, 2 in Venezuela, 1 of these in the flora area.
Cuspidaria subincana A.H. Gentry, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 63: 52. 1976.
Liana. Lower montane forests, 600-800 m; Bolívar (Serranía Marutaní, Sierra Pakaraima). Colombia (Meta), southern Suriname, Brazil (Amazonas, RondŁnia). Fig. 368.
This species looks very much like an Arrabidaea except for the twisted and reflexed anther thecae. The best vegetative character (as in Arrabidaea candicans) is the strongly appressed-canescent lower surface of the leaflet.