Shrubs scandent, 1–2 m tall. Branchlets purple, with soft hairs and ± slender prickles. Leaves imparipinnate, 5–7-foliolate, rarely 3-foliolate; petiole 4–9 cm, petiolule of terminal leaflet 1–2 cm, lateral leaflets subsessile, petiolules and rachis with soft hairs and minute prickles; stipules linear or linear-lanceolate, soft hairy; blade of leaflets ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 4–8 × 2.5–5 cm, abaxially glabrous except pilose along veins, adaxially glabrous, base broadly cuneate to subrounded, margin irregularly incised-doubly serrate, apex acuminate, rarely acute. Inflorescences terminal, corymbose, 3–5-flowered, or flowers solitary in leaf axils; bracts linear or linear-lanceolate, soft hairy. Pedicel 1–2 cm, soft hairy, unarmed or prickly. Flowers 2–3 cm in diam. Calyx purple, abaxially puberulous to subglabrous, sometimes prickly; sepals erect after anthesis, triangular-lanceolate or triangular-ovate, 1–1.5 cm × 5–8 mm, apex acuminate, inner sepals with gray tomentose margin. Petals pink or white turning red, broadly obovate, slightly longer than or nearly as long as sepals, soft hairy basally, base shortly clawed. Stamens many in several whorls, unequal in length; filaments glabrous or slightly pilose. Pistils numerous, slightly longer or shorter than stamens; ovary and base of style densely long gray tomentose. Aggregate fruit red, ovoid-globose, 1.3–2 cm in diam., densely long gray tomentose; pyrenes shallowly rugose or ± smooth. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Aug–Sep.

Forests and forest margins in mountainous regions, shaded montane valleys, sparsely forested slopes; 2100--3200 m. Sichuan.