Shrubs 1–2 m tall, with arching branches. Branchlets grayish brown or reddish brown to blackish brown, with soft hairs and sparse, curved prickles. Leaves imparipinnate, 3–5-foliolate; petiole 2.5–5 cm, terminal leaflet 1–2 cm, petiolulate, lateral leaflets subsessile, with soft hairs and sparse, minute prickles; stipules linear, 7–10 mm, soft hairy; blade of leaflets rhombic-orbicular or obovate, 2.5–6 × 2–6 cm, abaxially densely gray tomentose, adaxially appressed-pilose, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin unevenly coarsely serrate or coarsely incised-doubly serrate, often lobed, apex obtuse or acute. Inflorescences terminal, corymbose, rarely short racemes, 4–8 cm, several to many flowered, axillary inflorescences corymbose; rachis and pedicels pubescent, with minute prickles; bracts linear, 6–10 mm, pubescent. Pedicel 0.5–1.5 cm. Flowers ca. 1 cm in diam. Calyx abaxially densely pubescent, with unequal long needle-like prickles; sepals erect, spreading, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 5–8 × 2–4 mm, apex acuminate, occasionally laciniate. Petals pink to purplish red, ovate-orbicular or oblong, 4–6 × 3–4 mm, base clawed. Stamens numerous, somewhat shorter than petals; filaments white, linear. Pistils slightly longer than or ca. as long as stamens; ovary pubescent. Aggregate fruit red, ovoid-globose, 1–1.5 cm in diam., glabrous or somewhat pubescent; pyrenes shallowly rugose. Fl May–Jun, fr. Jul–Aug. 2n = 14*, 21*, 28*.

The fruit are eaten raw and are also used for making jam, jelly, juice, syrup, candy, wine, and vinegar. The dried fruit are used in traditional Chinese medicine. The young plants are used as a substitute for tea, and the stems and roots are a source of tannin.

Forests, thickets, clearings, slopes, sunny valleys, roadsides, waste places; 400--2700 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Vietnam].