Shrubs to 2 m tall. Branchlets brown or reddish brown, glabrous or sparsely pubescent when young, glabrescent, ± with needle-like to curved prickles, sometimes glaucous. Leaves imparipinnate, 3(–7)-foliolate; petiole 5–10 cm, petiolule of terminal leaflet 2–3.5 cm, lateral leaflets subsessile, glabrous or sparsely pilose, with sparse, minute prickles; stipules ovate-lanceolate to ovate, 0.8–1.6 cm × (4–)6–10 mm, brownish, glabrous, apex acuminate; blade of leaflets ovate, broadly ovate, or elliptic, 3–10 × 2.5–9 cm, abaxially densely gray tomentose, with sparse, minute prickles along veins, adaxially sparsely thinly pubescent, base rounded to shallowly cordate, margin unevenly coarsely doubly serrate, usually 2- or 3-lobed on terminal leaflet, apex acuminate or acute. Inflorescences terminal, corymbose, 4–6 cm, several flowered, sometimes axillary and 1- or 2-flowered; bracts brownish, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, 0.8–1.6 cm × 5–10 mm, glabrous. Pedicel 2–4 cm, glabrous or hairy, ± with minute prickles. Flowers 2–3 cm in diam. Calyx purplish red, abaxially glabrous or hairy; sepals erect, rarely reflexed in fruit, broadly ovate, 1.2–1.8 cm × 6–10 mm, inner sepals with margin gray tomentose, apex acuminate. Petals red, suborbicular, 6–9 mm in diam., shorter than sepals, base narrowly clawed, margin erose or coarsely dentate. Stamens somewhat shorter than petals. Pistils many; apical part of ovary and basal part of style densely gray or grayish yellow long tomentose. Aggregate fruit red, globose, 1.5–2 cm in diam., densely long tomentose or not and soft hairy, with persistent styles. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Jul–Aug.

Slopes, thickets, forests in valleys, forest margins, roadsides; 1000--3000 m. Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.

The varietal name “Rubus lasiostylus var. eglandulosus Focke, Hooker’s Icon. Pl., ser. 3. 10: sub t. 1951. 1891” is an error; although used in the Flora of China, the name is unpublished, and it has been deleted from the online treatment.

The varietal name “Rubus lasiostylus var. tomentosus Focke, Hooker’s Icon. Pl., ser. 3. 10: sub t. 1951. 1891” is an error; although used in the Flora of China, the name is unpublished, and it has been deleted from the online treatment.