Subshrublike herbs, erect, to 1 m tall. Branchlets stellate tomentose. Stipules filiform, ca. 2 mm, caducous; petiole 1-4 cm, gray-white stellate; leaf blades on proximal part of stem nearly orbicular, 4-5 × 5-6 cm, base rounded or nearly cordate, margin serrate, apex 3-lobed, blades on middle part of stem ovate, 5-7 × 3-6.5 cm, those on distal part of stem oblong to lanceolate, 4-7 × 1.5-3 cm, abaxially gray stellate puberulent, adaxially puberulent. Flowers solitary or slightly aggregated, axillary. Pedicel ca. 3 mm, woolly. Epicalyx lobes connate for ca. 1/3 length, ca. 6 mm, puberulent. Calyx cup-shaped, lobes 5, slightly shorter than bracteoles, stellate puberulent, caducous. Corolla reddish, ca. 15 mm in diam.; petals 5, obovate, ca. 1.5 cm, abaxially stellate puberulent. Staminal column ca. 15 mm, glabrous. Style branches 10, hirsute. Fruit flattened globose, ca. 1 cm in diam.; mericarps stellate puberulent and spiny with hooked spines. Fl. Jul-Oct.

This is a polymorphic species for which many infraspecific taxa have been described from throughout its range.

Grasslands, scrub, roadsides; 500-2200 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam; pantropical].