Lianas, semiwoody. Branchlets terete, with longitudinal ridges; tendrils digitately 4-7-branched. Leaves palmately 5-foliolate; stipules brown, oval, membranous, usually persistent; petiole 1-4 cm; petiolules very short or leaflets sessile; leaflets rhombic-elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 1-4 × 0.5-2 cm, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, veinlets inconspicuous on both surfaces, base cuneate, base of lateral leaflets asymmetric, margin with 3-8 teeth or denticles on each side, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse. Simple umbel or occasionally 3 or 4 umbels forming a cluster, terminal, or pseudoterminal with 1 or 2 leaves on short branches, 1.5-4 cm; peduncle 1-4 cm. Buds elliptic or ovoid-elliptic, 1.5-3 mm, apex subtruncate or subrounded. Calyx shallow and saucer-shaped, margin undulately lobed. Petals elliptic,
1.3-2.7 mm, apex corniculate. Filaments filiform; anthers yellow, oval, abortive in female flowers. Disk conspicuous, 4-lobed, undeveloped in female flowers. Ovary coniform; style short; stigma expanded, irregularly lobed. Berry spheroid, 5-10 mm in diam., 1-seeded. Seed elliptic, base rostrate, apex rounded. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Nov.

Forests, rocky cliffs on hillsides, boulders, rocks; 100-2600 m. Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bhutan, Nepal, Vietnam].