Hemsleya tonkinensis Cogniaux; H. trifoliolata Cogniaux; H. yunnanensis Cogniaux; Thladiantha digitata H. Léveillé; T. heptadactyla Cogniaux; T. hookeri var. heptadactyla (Cogniaux) A. M. Lu & Zhi Y. Zhang; T. hookeri var. palmatifolia Chakravarty; T. hookeri var. pentadactyla (Cogniaux) A. M. Lu & Zhi Y. Zhang; T. hookeri f. quinquefoliata Chakravarty; T. hookeri f. trifoliolata (Cogniaux) Chakravarty; T. pentadactyla Cogniaux; T. trifoliolata (Cogniaux) Merrill.

Vines, climbing, herbaceous. Tuber oblate-spheroid. Stems 2-4(-10) m, to 10 mm in diam., much branched, subglabrous. Petiole 3-6 cm, glabrous or puberulent; leaf blade pedately 3-7-foliolate or undivided; leaflets oblong-lanceolate, broadly lanceolate, lanceolate, or linear-lanceolate, median leaflet 6-15 × 1-3 cm, membranous, abaxially subglabrous, adaxially scabrous, margin dentate, apex acuminate. Tendrils filiform, simple, smooth. Male flowers in raceme or solitary; rachis filiform, 2-4 cm, glabrous, ebracteate; pedicel of solitary flowers to 2.5 cm; calyx tube broadly campanulate, 3-4 × 6-7 mm, sparsely pubescent; segments erect, narrowly triangular, ca. 4 × 1.5 mm, 3-veined; corolla segments ovate, 10-12 × ca. 5 mm; filaments 2-3 mm, glabrous; anthers oblong, ca. 2 mm. Female flowers solitary; pedicel filiform, 2-4 cm, at first puberulent, ultimately glabrous; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; calyx segments ca. 10 mm; corolla segments ca. 2 cm; ovary fusiform, 1-2 cm × 2-3 mm, densely yellow-brown pubescent, attenuate at both ends; style ca. 4 mm, 2-fid; stigmas enlarged, ca. 3 mm. Fruit oblong, 4-6 × 2-3 cm, smooth, rounded at both ends. Seeds broadly ovate, 6-7 × ca. 5 mm, smooth, base obtuse-rounded. Fl. and fr. Apr-Oct.

Forest margins on mountain slopes; 1200-1800 m. Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].