Shrubs dioecious, 1-2.5 m tall. Branchlets pubescent, later glabrescent; nodal spines 2; internodes unarmed or with sparse, slender spines. Buds brown, ovoid, 3-4 mm, pubescent when young, apex obtuse or acute. Petiole (0.5-)1-2 cm, pubescent, sometimes also shortly stalked glandular, rarely subglabrous; leaf blade broadly ovate, (1-)1.5-3 cm, pubescent, rarely subglabrous, base broadly cuneate or subtruncate to shallowly cordate; lobes 3(-5), margin coarsely obtusely or acutely serrate, sometimes also with double teeth. Male racemes lax, 5-7 cm, 8-20-flowered, female ones dense, 2-3 cm, 8-10 flowered or more; rachis and pedicels pubescent or subglabrous, sparsely shortly glandular hairy; bracts lanceolate to narrowly oblong, 3-4 mm, sparsely pubescent or shortly glandular hairy, 1-veined. Pedicel 2-4 mm. Calyx greenish yellow to pinkish brown, glabrous or subglabrous; tube saucer-shaped, 1.5-2 mm; lobes broadly ovate, 1.5-2 mm, longer than petals. Petals scalelike, 1-1.5 mm. Stamens longer than petals. Ovary subglobose, glabrous. Style 2-lobed at apex. Fruit red, globose, 0.5-0.8 cm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Aug-Sep.

Forests in ravines, thickets on open slopes, hills, ravines, rocky slopes; 300-3800 m. Gansu, Hebei, Nei Mongol, N Ningxia, E Qinghai, W Shaanxi, Shanxi [NE Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].