Shrubs dioecious, 1-4 m tall. Branchlets slender, usually stalked glandular, unarmed. Buds purplish brown, ovoid to oblong-ovoid, 4-6 mm, apex acute. Petiole 1-3 cm, glabrous or sparsely glandular pubescent; leaf blade narrowly ovate, rarely suborbicular, 2-5.5 × 2-4 cm, pubescent then glabrescent, base truncate to cordate, margin lobed or parted; lobes or segments 3-5, margin incised doubly serrate, sometimes also with remote, coarse, sharp, simple teeth; terminal lobe or segment rhombic-ovate, 2-3 × as long as ovate or rhombic-ovate lateral ones, apex acuminate to caudate. Male racemes 3-5 cm, 10-20-flowered, female ones 1-3 cm, 5-15-flowered; rachis and pedicels pubescent and sparsely glandular hairy; bracts brown, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 4-7 mm, 1-veined, margin shortly glandular hairy. Pedicel 2-6 mm. Calyx reddish brown, glabrous; tube saucer-shaped, 1-1.5 mm; lobes erect, ligulate to ovate, 2-3.5 mm. Petals dark red, cuneate-spatulate to subobovate, ca. 1 mm. Stamens subequaling petals; filaments subequaling anthers. Ovary glabrous. Style 2-lobed, shortly clavate in male flowers. Fruit dark red, rarely black, globose, 0.4-0.7 cm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Aug-Sep.

At least some of the records of Ribes tenue from the Himalayas may refer to the similar and closely related R. laciniatum.

Forests or thickets on mountain slopes and in valleys, thickets in grasslands, ditch banks along roadsides; 1300-4200 m. E Gansu, W Henan, W Hubei, NW Hunan, SW Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [Himalayas].