Shrubs, rarely subshrubs or herbs, usually with robust or needle-like prickles. Leaves pinnately or palmately compound, (3–)5–11(–15)-foliolate, or simple; stipules persistent, mostly adnate to base of petiole, narrower than petiole, rarely broader, undivided, sometimes lobed. Flowers bisexual, in cymose-panicles, subracemes, or corymbs, rarely several in clusters or solitary. Aggregate fruit separating from torus at maturity, hollow.

Eighty-eight species (55 endemic) in China.