Shrubs to 2 m tall. Branchlets brownish to dark reddish brown, glabrous, with sparse prickles. Leaves palmately compound, 3-foliolate; petiole reddish brown, 1.5–3 cm, lateral leaflets subsessile, soft hairy when young, gradually glabrescent, with sparse prickles; stipules free, leaflike, ovate or narrowly ovate, 2–3.5 × 1–2 cm, herbaceous, glabrous, margin unevenly coarsely serrate, apex acuminate; blade of leaflets elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 6–14 × 2.5–5 cm, lateral veins 10–15 pairs, middle leaflet much longer than lateral leaflets, abaxially glabrous except puberulous along veins, adaxially glabrous or sparsely pubescent only along midvein, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin irregularly coarsely sharply serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal on lateral short branchlets, short racemes, flowers usually in clusters of 3–5; rachis and pedicels glabrous; bracts ovate or broadly triangular-ovate, slightly smaller than stipules, glabrous, margin unevenly serrate, apex acuminate. Pedicel 1–2 cm. Flowers 2–3 cm in diam. Calyx reddish brown, abaxially glabrous; sepals broadly ovate or triangular-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.2–2 cm, apex long caudate; outer sepals broader, margin shallowly laciniate above middle or at apex, inner sepals entire, with tomentose margin. Petals erect after anthesis, white, elliptic or spatulate, 0.7–1.4 cm × 5–7 mm, glabrous. Stamens many, unequal in length, shorter than petals; filaments broad, complanate. Pistils numerous; style and ovary glabrous. Fruit unknown. Fl. May–Jun.

Bamboo forests on slopes, Rhododendron thickets; 2800--3000 m. W Yunnan (Tengchong Xian).