Herbs perennial or subshrubs, few branched or well branched, erect or diffuse, 0.7-3 m tall; branchlets strigose. Usually dioecious. Leaves opposite or nearly so on distal branches and unequal in size; stipules lanceolate, 6-8 mm; petiole 2-9.5 cm, pubescent; leaf blade ovate, narrowly ovate, or sublanceolate, 4-14 × 2-7 cm, papery or herbaceous, secondary veins 2 or 3 pairs along midvein, abaxial surface spreading-pilose but appressed pubescent along midvein and lateral veins, adaxial surface strigose and often rough, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin serrulate or coarsely serrate from basal 1/3, apex acuminate or caudate. Glomerules unisexual, on specialized axillary branches, these usually unbranched but occasionally with a few lateral branches at their base, and always with a tuft of 2-4 small foliage leaves at the apex. Glomerules 2-4 mm in diam. Male flowers 4-merous, sessile; perianth lobes ca. 1.5 mm, sparsely puberulent, connate at base; rudimentary ovule ellipsoid, ca. 0.5 mm. Fruiting perianth tube obovoid, compressed, ca. 1.5 mm, strigose on shoulder, apex 2-toothed. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 28.

Moist places in forests, forest margins, along streams, often somewhat dry places in disturbed areas, roadsides; 200-2500 m. S Anhui, Fujian, S Gansu, N Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Vietnam].