Herbs perennial, 40-65 cm high. Rhizomes strong, blackish brown, with many slender, long, brown, fibrous roots. Stems erect, 1 or several in a fascicle, evidently 6- or 7-noded; internodes 0.5-3 cm, basal nodes with 1 pair of scalelike leaves. Scalelike leaves ovate-triangular, membranous. Leaves opposite, usually 4 on apical part of stem; stipules subulate; petiole 5-12 mm; leaf blade broadly elliptic, ovate-elliptic, obovate, or suborbicular, 9-18 × 5-9 cm, papery, glandular mucronate, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, margin serrate or crenate, apex acuminate; lateral veins 6-8 pairs. Spikes terminal or terminal and axillary, usually dichotomously or racemosely branched; peduncle (2.5-)10-16 cm; bracts usually ovate-triangular or nearly semiorbicular. Flowers white. Stamens 3, base nearly free, only insides connected; central connective ca. 3 mm, with a 2-loculed anther; lateral connectives slightly shorter, each with a 1-loculed anther; thecae at base of connectives. Ovary ovoid; style absent; stigma subcapitate. Drupes globose, ca. 3 mm; stalk short. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

Used medicinally.

* Wet places, thickets, forests; 800-2000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang