Cissampelos
(from Kissos, the Greek name of Ivy, and Ampelos, a Vine; the plants resembling Ivy in their rambling habit, and the Vine in having the fruit in racemes). Pareira Brava Root. ORD. Menispermaceae. Stove climbing shrubs. Racemes axillary; male ones often trichotomously branched, somewhat corymbose, solitary, twin or in threes, bearing many flowers at the top of the pedicels; female racemes simple, elongated, bearing broad alternate bracts. Leaves simple, stalked, orbicular, ovate, heartshaped or peltate, mucronulate at the apex. These plants grow freely in fibrous loam. Cuttings root readily, with a hand glass placed over them, in heat. The majority of the species require a great deal of room to spread, before they arrive at a flowering stage.
C. mauritiana (Mauritian).* fl. yellow, green; male racemes axillary, in pairs or numerous. l. cordate-orbicular, pubescentvillous; those of the male plants peltate. Branches hispid. Mauritius, 1820.
C. Pareira (Pareira). Caapeba. fl. greenish; female racemes longer than the leaves. July. l. peltate, somewhat cordate, ovate-orbicular; under surface silky-pubescent. Branches smooth. Martinico, Jamaica, &c., 1733. (B. M. Pl. 15.) There are about a score other species.