Vines woody. Branches shallowly longitudinally 6--8-grooved, puberulous near nodes, glabrescent. Leaves ternately 3-foliolate, rarely pedately 5-foliolate; petiole 2--7.8 cm, sparsely puberulous to subglabrous; leaflet blades ovate-lanceolate, narrowly ovate, or ovate, 3.5--10(--15) × 1.5--3.5(--6) cm, subleathery to leathery, both surfaces glabrous, base rounded to subcordate, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate; basal veins abaxially ± prominent. Cymes axillary or terminal, axillary ones 1--5(--7)-flowered; peduncle 1.5--9 cm; bracts triangular to subulate, 2--5 mm. Flowers 2--4 cm in diam. Pedicel 1.5--6 cm, glabrous or nearly so. Sepals 4(--6), white, spreading, narrowly oblong, obovate-oblong, or narrowly lanceolate, 10--20 × 2--5 mm, abaxially glabrous except for velutinous margin, adaxially glabrous, apex acute to ± obtuse. Stamens 7--12 mm, glabrous; anthers narrowly oblong to linear, 4--6.5 mm, apex minutely apiculate. Ovaries pubescent. Style ca. 7 mm, densely villous. Achenes falcate-fusiform, ca. 5 × 1.5 mm, pubescent; persistent style 1.5--2.5 cm, yellow-brown plumose. Fl. Apr--Jun, fr. Jul--Nov.

* Sparse forests, slopes, scrub, along streams; 100--1200 m. S Anhui, Fujian, N Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, S Henan, Hubei, Hunan, S Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang.