Shrubs 1-3 m tall. Branchlets pubescent or subglabrous, unarmed. Buds brownish, ovoid to oblong, 4-7 mm, puberulent, apex obtuse or acute. Petiole 4-7 cm, pubescent; leaf blade 5-10 cm, appressed-pubescent on both surfaces or adaxially glabrous when young, glabrescent, rarely villous or tomentose, base cordate; lobes 3(-5), ovate-triangular, margin irregularly coarsely sharply serrate or doubly serrate, apex acute to shortly acuminate; terminal lobe slightly longer than lateral ones. Racemes erect then nodding, (3-)7-16(-20) cm, 40-50-flowered; rachis and pedicels densely pubescent; bracts ovate, glabrous or puberulent. Flowers bisexual, 3-5 mm in diam.; pedicel 1-3 mm. Calyx greenish or tinged yellow, glabrous or hairy; tube pelviform, 1-1.5(-2) mm, with 5 unconnected warts adaxially at base; lobes reflexed, obovate-ligulate to ligulate, (1-)2-3 mm. Petals yellowish green, subspatulate, 1-1.5 mm. Stamens longer than petals. Ovary glabrous or hairy. Style shorter than or equaling stamens, 2-lobed or sometimes divided for almost 1/2 its length. Fruit globose, red, 0.7-0.9 cm, glabrous or hairy. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

Coniferous or mixed forests or thickets on mountain slopes or in valleys, ravines; 300-1900 m. E Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, W Henan, E Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, NE Shandong, SW Shaanxi, C Shanxi [N Korea, Russia (Siberia)].