Branchlets terete, with longitudinal ridges, glabrous or sparsely pilose; tendrils bifurcate. Leaves simple, conspicuously 3-5-lobed or cleft; stipules caducous; petiole 4-9 cm, nearly glabrous; leaf blade oval, 7-18 × 6-16 cm, basal veins 5, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, veinlets inconspicuously raised, base deeply cordate, notch rounded, 2 sides usually overlapping to nearly so, margin 22-27-toothed on each side, teeth large, irregular, and sharp, glabrous or sparsely pilose, apex of midlobes acute. Panicle sparse or dense, opposite to leaves, basal branches well developed, 10-20 cm; peduncle 2-4 cm, glabrous or with sparse arachnoid tomentum. Pedicel 1.5-2.5 mm, glabrous. Buds obovoid, 2-3 mm, apex rounded. Calyx glabrous, undulate. Filaments filiform, 0.6-1 mm; anthers yellow, oval, 0.4-0.8 mm. Pistil entirely abortive in male flowers; ovary oval; style short; stigma expanded. Berry globose or elliptic, 1.5-2 cm in diam. Seeds obovoid to obelliptic, apex subrounded, chalazal knot elliptic, raphe slightly raised, ventral holes broadly furrowed upward ca. 1/4 from base. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Aug-Sep. 2n = 38*.

Cultivated throughout China for grapes and wine-making [native to SW Asia and SE Europe].