Shrubs 1-2 m tall. Branchlets glabrous or slightly puberulent, rarely sparsely shortly stalked glandular, unarmed. Buds brown, ovoid to oblong, 2.5-4.5 mm, glabrous or puberulent, apex acute. Petiole 2.5-5 cm, sparsely glandular hairy near base, rarely with some eglandular hairs; leaf blade suborbicular, 3-7 cm, glabrous or abaxially pubescent, base shallowly cordate, rarely truncate; lobes (3-)5, triangular to ovate-triangular, margin coarsely serrate, apex obtuse or acute; terminal lobe equaling or longer than lateral ones. Racemes nodding, dense, 3-5(-6) cm, 7-17-flowered; rachis and pedicels pubescent or subglabrous; bracts ovate, 1-2 mm, puberulent. Flowers bisexual, 3.5-5(-6) mm in diam.; pedicel 1-2.5 mm. Calyx purple or brownish, dotted purple, glabrous; tube campanulate to shortly cylindric, 2-3 mm; lobes erect after anthesis, spatulate to obovate, 2.5-3.5 mm, margin ciliate. Petals narrowly cuneate to linear, 1-1.5 mm, margin sometimes slightly ciliate. Stamens inserted slightly below petals and slightly longer than them. Ovary glabrous. Style longer than stamens, apex 2-lobed. Fruit purplish black, globose, 0.7-0.8(-1) cm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

Forests and forest margins on mountain slopes, river banks, or in valleys, thickets in valleys or on roadsides, rock crevices in gullies, streamsides; 1200-3900 m. Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia].