Shrubs prostrate, sprawling, or procumbent, 3–5 m. Branches often prostrate, sometimes rooting at nodes; branchlets red-brown, terete, pubescent when young, soon glabrate; prickles scattered, sometimes paired, often tinged with purple-red, curved or nearly straight, to 5 mm, flat, gradually tapering to broad base. Leaves including petiole 5–10 cm; stipules mostly adnate to petiole, free parts lanceolate, margin glandular serrate or dentate, apex shortly acuminate; rachis and petiole shortly prickly, sparsely glandular-pubescent; leaflets 5–7, rarely 9, greenish abaxially, dark green adaxially, elliptic, ovate, or obovate, 1–3 × 0.7–1.5 cm, glabrous, abaxially with prominent midvein, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin remotely serrate, apex rounded-obtuse or acute. Flowers numerous in corymb or solitary, 1.5–3 cm in diam.; pedicel 6–10 mm, with peduncle sparsely pubescent when young, soon glabrescent, rarely sparsely glandular-pubescent; bracts caducous, ovate. Hypanthium subglobose, sparsely glandular-pubescent. Sepals 5, tardily deciduous, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, abaxially subglabrous, adaxially densely pubescent, margin entire, apex acuminate. Petals 5, white or pink, fragrant, obovate, base cuneate, apex rounded-obtuse. Styles connate into column, exserted, slightly longer than stamens, pubescent. Hip purple-black-brown, globose or subglobose, 6–18 mm in diam., shiny, sparsely glandular-pubescent. Fl. Apr–Jul, fr. Oct–Nov.

Thickets, sea cliffs, coasts, on limestone; sea level to 500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Korea, Philippines].