Shrubs 1.5–2.5 m tall. Branchlets arching, reddish brown, sometimes glaucous, with sparse, compressed purplish red curved prickles, pubescent when young, glabrescent. Leaves imparipinnate, 5–7-foliolate; petiole 3–5 cm, petiolule of terminal leaflet 1–2 cm, lateral leaflets nearly sessile, petiolule and rachis pubescent, with curved prickles; stipules linear, 5–6 mm, margin entire, pubescent; blade of leaflets ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or ovate-oblong, terminal leaflet sometimes rhombic-lanceolate, 3–7 × 1.5–4 cm, abaxially gray tomentose, adaxially glabrous or subglabrous, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin coarsely doubly serrate, rarely lobed, apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, terminal ones narrow cymose panicles, 7–12 cm, axillary ones subracemes; rachis and pedicels pubescent; bracts linear, small, 3–5 mm. Pedicel 5–8 mm, slender. Flowers 5–8 mm in diam. Calyx abaxially gray tomentose, sometimes glabrescent; sepals erect, ovate to narrowly ovate, 4–6 × 1.5–2.5 mm, apex acute, abruptly pointed. Petals pink, suborbicular, nearly as long as or slightly longer than sepals, base shortly clawed. Stamens many; filaments filiform; anthers purple. Pistils numerous; ovary pubescent; styles glabrous. Aggregate fruit red to reddish black, globose, 5–8 mm in diam., pubescent, glabrescent; pyrenes ovoid-globose, rugose. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Aug–Sep.

River banks, montane valleys, forested slopes, thickets, roadsides; 900--2800 m. Fujian, Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Zhejiang.