Woody climbers, 3-4 m, deciduous. Young branches light green, pubescent or puberulent; old branches brown or black-brown, glabrous, striate. Bud scales ovoid or broadly ovoid, midvein prominent, puberulent when young, ciliate. Petiole 3-10 mm, pubescent; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, oblong-ovate, or obovate-oblong to obovate-orbicular, 3-7(-14) × 1-3.5(-7) cm, membranous or subpapery, both surfaces pubescent, or only abaxially pubescent on veins, lateral veins 3-6 pairs, slender, ascending, anastomosing, base obtuse-rounded to broadly cuneate, apex acute or acuminate to shortly caudate-acuminate. Panicle 2-4-flowered; peduncle 1.5-3 cm. Pedicel 3-5 mm. Sepals 5, with purple-red spots or not, broadly ovate or suborbicular, 0.8-1.2 mm, glabrous. Petals 5, green, yellowish green, or purplish, with purple-red spots at base or not, broadly ovate or obovate-oblong, 4-6 × 3-4 mm, 7-9-veined, sometimes ciliate. Stamens 5. Disk swollen, prominent veins 3 or 4, with or without prominent brown glandular dots at center. Ovary pubescent or puberulent. Schizocarp subreniform, 6-8 mm wide; endocarp with midrib, and 1 or 2 reticulate lines. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May.
Dense or sparse forests, valleys, streamsides; 1400-3600 m. Anhui, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Xizang, C and NW Yunnan [Bhutan, Nepal].
Water (Blumea 26: 25-27. 1980) treated this species complex, including its infraspecific taxa and synonyms, in the synonymy of Sabia campanulata.
