Shrubs deciduous, though in leaf for most of year, dioecious, to 1.5 m tall, most parts glabrous or pubescent. Branchlets unarmed. Buds brownish, ovoid to oblong-ovoid, 2-5 mm, glabrous, apex acute. Petiole 1-3 cm, rarely glabrous; leaf blade suborbicular, (2-)3-4(-8) × (2.5-)3.5-5(-10) cm, base truncate to shallowly cordate; lobes 3-5, broadly ovate, margin coarsely obtusely serrate, apex obtuse or acute; terminal lobe subequaling or slightly longer than lateral ones. Flowers fragrant, male ones 2-9 in umbels, female ones 2-4(-6) in fascicles, rarely solitary; bracts oblong, 5-8 mm, puberulent, 1-veined, caducous; pedicel (3-)5-9 mm. Calyx yellowish green, glabrous; tube cupular, 2-3 mm; lobes reflexed at anthesis, ovate to ligulate, 2-4 mm. Petals suborbicular to flabellate, 1.5-2 mm. Stamens longer than petals. Ovary pyriform. Fruit reddish brown, subglobose, 0.7-1 cm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Sep.

Forests and forest margins, bamboo woods, foothills, stony slopes, roadsides; 700-2400 m. Anhui, E Gansu, NW Guizhou, W Henan, NW Hubei, Jiangsu, N Jiangxi, Shaanxi, NE Shandong, N Zheijiang [Japan, Korea].