Shrubs dioecious, 2-3(-5) m tall. Branchlets glabrous or slightly pubescent, unarmed. Buds brownish red, oblong, 4-7 mm, apex acute; scales herbaceous, glabrous. Petiole pinkish, 1-2 cm, glabrous or sparsely stalked glandular; leaf blade narrowly ovate, rarely suborbicular, 3-5 × 2-4 cm, abaxially puberulent along veins, adaxially glabrous or sparsely glandular hairy, base rounded to subtruncate; lobes 3-5, margin coarsely serrate, sometimes with some double teeth; terminal lobe narrowly triangular-ovate, 3-4 × as long as ovate lateral ones, apex acuminate. Male racemes 2-5 cm, 10-30-flowered, female ones 1-3 cm, 4-10-flowered; rachis and pedicels pubescent, shortly stalked glandular; bracts ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 3-5 mm, 1-veined, margin ciliate. Pedicel 2-4 mm. Calyx brownish red, glabrous; tube shallowly cupular, 1-2 mm; lobes erect, ovate to ligulate, 1-2.5 mm. Petals subflabellate to cuneate-spatulate, not equaling calyx lobes. Stamens equaling or longer than petals. Ovary obovoid-oblong, glabrous, rarely sparsely glandular hairy. Style 2-lobed at apex. Fruit red, sour tasting, subglobose to obovoid-globose, 0.5-0.7 cm in diam., glabrous. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep.

Forests and thickets in mountain valleys, mountain slopes, rocks; 1900-3000 m. SE Gansu, Henan, W Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Kashmir, N Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].