Tendriled liana; stems terete, +/- glabrous, bearing conspicuous brown lenticels; sap at periphery milky, not copious. Leaves trifoliolate; petioles to 14 cm long, with marginal ribs above, glabrate; leaflets broadly elliptic, acuminate or acute at apex, attenuate to rounded at base, 5-15 cm long, 3-12 cm wide (to 23 cm long and 11 cm wide as juveniles), glabrate but with axillary tufts below, subentire to remotely crenate-dentate. Thyrses small, helicoid, to 7 cm long, solitary or clustered at nodes, often on leafless stems near the ground but occurring to 5 m high; flowers white, ca 5 mm long; petals with the scales ca two-thirds as long as petals, yellow-crested, the anterior scales bilobed, their appendages pubescent, the glands white, acute, densely pubescent; staminal cluster equaling petals; filaments densely pubescent; nectar abundant, stored near the large glands; ovary glabrous; styles pubescent. Capsules elliptic to obovate, 2 cm. long, red, short-pubescent, the 3 boat-shaped valves broadly spreading to expose seeds; seeds 1-3, black, shiny, less than 1 cm long, covered on the lower half by a fleshy white aril, dangling on a thin funiculus when fully displayed. Croat 7213, 7817. Mexico., Guatemala, Panama, and Colombia. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest on both slopes of the Canal Zone and in Colon, San Blas, Chiriqui, Panama, and Darién, and from premontane wet forest in Panama (Cerro Jefe) and Darién,

Descripción: Plantas trepadoras o lianas con el tronco cilíndrico. Ramitas con lenticelas blancas y savia lechosa. Hojas trifolioladas y alternas. Folíolos de 10-20 x 3-9 cm, oblongos, lanceolados o elípticos, con ápice acuminado, bordes dentados y base decurrente. Estípulas pequeñas y persistentes. Pecíolo y raquis sin alas. Inflorescencias caulinares. Flores blancas. Frutos en cápsulas, de 1-2 x 0.5-1 cm, verdes, tornándose rojos al madurar. Semillas 1 a 3, envueltas en la base de un arilo blanco.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK paulpt Paullinia pterocarpa LK2 , pero en P. pterocarpa las hojas presentan cinco folíolos.