The Leeaceae is a monotypic family containing the single genus Leea with approximately 70 species. Leea has often been put in the grape family (Vitaceae), and derives its name from the 18th century Scottish horticulturist James Lee who was a nurseryman at Vineyard Nursery in Hammersmith, gardener to the Duke of Argyll, and a correspondent of Linnaeus. He had plant collectors both in North America and at the Cape of South Africa. There are species of Leea in South and Southeast Asia extending to the Himalayas and Australia, and parts of Africa and Madagascar. They can be herbs, trees or shrubs, and are self-supporting without tendrils as in the Vitaceae. The leaves are alternate and pinnate or rarely simple, and the fruits are rather dry, subglobose berries of purple, black or orange.