Shrubs scandent, 1–2.5 m tall. Branchlets brown or reddish brown, glabrous or villous, with sparse, curved prickles. Leaves imparipinnate, usually 3-foliolate, those below inflorescences sometimes simple; petiole 2–4 cm, petiolule of terminal leaflet 1–2 cm, lateral leaflets variable, shortly petiolulate or subsessile, glabrous or slightly soft hairy when young, with sparse, minute prickles; stipules lanceolate or linear, 6–8 mm, glabrous, rarely puberulous; blade of leaflets elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 3–10(–16) × 1.5–5(–6) cm, terminal leaflet much longer than lateral leaflets, subleathery, both surfaces glabrous or adaxially sparsely appressed pubescent, base rounded or subcordate, margin unevenly densely coarsely serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, corymbose, 6–8 cm, 3–7-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary in leaf axils at bases; rachis and pedicels glabrous, rarely puberulent, with sparse, small prickles; bracts linear-lanceolate, 5–7 mm, often glabrous. Pedicel 1–2 cm, glabrous or densely villous. Flowers 3–4 cm in diam. Calyx abaxially glabrous or villous; sepals reflexed after anthesis, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 6–10 × 4–6 mm, apex acute, abruptly subulate-pointed, inner sepals yellowish gray tomentose at margin. Petals white, spatulate-oblong or narrowly obovate, 5–7 mm in diam., much longer than sepals, puberulous, base clawed. Stamens numerous in several whorls, shorter than petals, with somewhat broader filaments. Pistils to 300 or more, glabrous; torus with stalks to 5 mm. Aggregate fruit orange-red or brown-yellow, subglobose or slightly oblong, 1.5–1.7 cm in diam., glabrous; pyrenes shallowly rugose. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Jun–Jul.

Slopes, valleys, mixed and sparse forests, roadsides, water courses; 300--2200 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [Vietnam].