Descripción: Plantas trepadoras o lianas con el tronco cilíndrico o estriado. Ramitas surcadas y con savia lechosa, zarcillos saliendo de los nudos. Hojas trifolioladas o simples, alternas. Folíolos de 3-16 x 2-7.5 cm, elípticos o lanceolados, con ápice agudo o acuminado, bordes dentados, los dientes son grandes y a menudo glandulares. Los folíolos son glabros y presentan nervaduras reticuladas y prominentes. Pecíolo sin alas. Inflorescencias axilares. Flores blancas. Frutos alados, de 4-5 x 2-3.5 cm, alas con nervaduras prominentes.

Usos: A menudo se confunde con LK paultu Paullinia turbacensis LK2 , pero en P. turbacensis los frutos son cápsulas y las semillas se encuentran envueltas de un arilo blanco en la base.

Glabrous, tendriled liana; younger stems striate, the older stems grooved, flattened to 3-angled. Leaves trifoliolate and pinnate; petioles 2-7 cm long, with marginal ribs above; petiolules very short or to 13 mm long; leaflets lanceolate-elliptic, ovate or +/- elliptic, acuminate, attenuate to rounded at base, entire to obtusely crenate above the middle, the teeth usually glandular, the terminal leaflet usually 10-14 cm long, 6-8 cm wide, the lateral leaflets somewhat smaller. Thyrses solitary in leaf axils or in terminal paniculate racemes, the ultimate branches densely bracteate and cincinnal; branches, pedicels, and calyces minutely tomentose; flowers white, ca 3 mm long; sepals 5, unequal, oblong to obovate, the 2 opposite the staminal cluster enlarged, obovate, petaloid; petals 4, obovate, glabrous but with villous margins, glandular inside near middle, to 1.7 mm long, all borne atop large glands, the anterior petals with an obscure, densely villous appendage medially and with a yellow crest, lobed to about midway and extending above the petals, the scales of the lateral petals lacking an obvious appendage; stamens 8; filaments villous to near the apex, the longest to 2.3 mm long, exserted; all anthers facing anterior petals; ovary minute, glabrous, 3-sided, glandular; styles 3, equaling ovary. Fruits ovate, subcordate, 4.5-5 cm long, less than 3.5 cm wide, glabrous, the cells ca 7 mm long, rugose, the veins of the wings prominulous. Croat 12668, Wetmore & Abbe 195, Woodworth & Vestal 638. Distinguished by the glabrous, trifoliolate leaves with blunt, gland-tipped teeth.