Lianas, woody. Stem flat. Branchlets terete or slightly flat with longitudinal ridges, glabrous; tendrils unbranched. Leaves palmately 5-foliolate; petiole 3-11 cm, glabrous; petiolules 0.5-3 cm, central petiolule 2-4 × as long as lateral petiolules, glabrous; leaflets elliptic-lanceolate, lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, (6-)9-16 × (2.5-)3-6(-7) cm, glabrous, lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs, veinlets raised, base cuneate, margin 5-9-toothed on each side, teeth inconspicuous or fine, rarely large, apex acuminate or acute. Inflorescence umbelliform, axillary, 15-17 cm, with nodes and brown bracts, rarely leaf-opposed and without nodes and bracts; peduncle 3-4 cm, glabrous. Pedicel 3-10 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose. Buds oval, 2.5-3 mm, apex obtuse. Calyx shallow and saucer-shaped, papillose, teeth inconspicuous. Petals ovate-triangular, 2-2.5 mm, apex galeate, sparsely papillose. Filaments filiform; anthers yellow, oval, short and abortive in female flowers. Disk well developed, 4-lobed, or inconspicuous and annular in female flowers. Ovary broadly coniform, base papillose; style inconspicuous; stigma 4-lobed. Berry globose, 2-3 cm in diam., 1- or 2(or 3)-seeded. Seeds oblong, base sharp, apex rounded, ventral holes furrowed from base to apex. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Aug-Dec.

Forests in valleys, rocks; 100-2100 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, S and E Xizang, Yunnan [India, Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam].

From Flora of China