Climbing shrubs, large, deciduous. Branchlets glabrous, with whitish lenticels, slightly puberulent or densely tomentose when young; pith white, lamellate, solid, or hollow. Petiole 3-7 cm, glabrous to sparsely velutinous; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, usually broadly ovate to broadly obovate, sometimes orbicular to narrowly ovate, 8-13(-15) × 5-8.5(-12) cm, abaxially glabrescent to densely appressed stellate tomentose, adaxially glabrescent to densely puberulent, midvein and lateral veins distinct and raised abaxially, inconspicuous to subconspicuous adaxially, lateral veins 6 or 7 pairs, transverse veins distinct, base broadly cuneate to rounded, truncate or reniform, margin minutely and remotely callose-serrulate, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences 3- or 4-branched, 10- or more flowered, densely brownish tomentose; peduncles 2.5-8.5 cm, forked at top; pedicels 0.5-1.5 cm, elongating and enlarging at fruiting stage; bracts linear, 1-2 mm. Flowers fragrant. Sepals 5, ovate, 4-5 mm, reflexed after anthesis, both surfaces yellowish tomentose. Petals 5-8, white on upper part and margins, orange on middle of lower parts, oblong to obovate-oblong, 6-8 mm, reflexed after anthesis. Filaments 2-4 mm, slender; anthers ovoid, ca. 1 mm, sagittate at base. Ovary globose, ca. 2 mm, densely pilose; styles 2-3 mm. Fruit brown, subglobose to ovoid, 3-3.5 × 2-2.5 cm, lenticellate, glabrous when mature or only pubescent at base and apex. Seeds 2-2.5 mm. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Oct-Nov. 2n = 58*.

Forests, thickets, mountain slopes, valleys; 400-1700 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam].