Descripción: Plantas trepadoras o lianas con el tronco hexagonal y formado por surcos longitudinales. Ramitas con pelos amarillos y savia lechosa, también con zarcillos saliendo de los nudos. Hojas imparipinnadas y alternas, con 3-5 folíolos, opuestos. Los folíolos de 3-22 x 2-10 cm, oblongos o elípticos, con ápice acuminado, bordes dentados y base decurrente, redondeada o ligeramente cordada. Estípulas de 2-3 cm de largo y de color marrón castaño. Pecíolo de 1-12 cm de largo. Raquis alado. Inflorescencias en racimos axilares. Flores blancas. Frutos en cápsulas, de 1-1.5 cm de largo, verdes, tornándose rojos y dehiscentes al madurar. Semillas 1 ó 2, envueltas en la base por un arilo blanco.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK paulpt Paullinia pterocarpa LK2 , pero en P. pterocarpa las hojas no tienen el raquis alado y las ramitas no tienen pelos.

Woody liana; stems 6-ribbed or grooved, long-hispid, with milky sap; tendrils axillary, forked, bracteate at fork, the arms watchspring-like; pubescence brown-pilose all over but with upper leaf surface between veins glabrous. Leaves pinnate; stipules paired, lanceolate, to 3 cm long, ciliate; petioles 1-12 cm long; rachis winged; leaflets 5, +/- elliptic or elliptic-oblong, acuminate, acute at base (lower pair often rounded or subcordate), 2.5-22 cm long, 1.5-11 cm wide, remotely dentate. Thyrses short, glomerulate, in leaf axils or borne on tendrils; flowers white, ca 5 mm long; sepals 5, oblong, glabrous; petals 4, oblong to obovate, acute, the scales ca three-fourths as long as petals, their crests yellow, slender, pointed, the scales of the anterior petals held together by villous trichomes, the glands of the anterior petals slender, erect, flattened; stamens 8; filaments +/- glabrous, fused into a tube at base; ovary 3-angled, glabrous; styles 3, longer than staminal tube. Capsules reddish, suborbicular,1-1.5 cm long, 3-celled, 3-winged, glabrous; seeds 1 or 2, oblong-obovate, dark, shiny, covered at base with a white aril. Croat 4000a, 8723. Occasional, in the forest. Flowers mostly in the late dry season (March and April). Most fruits mature in the late rainy season, some in the early dry season. The flowers and fruits usually occur on leafless stems near the ground.