Shrubs to 3 m tall. Branchlets brownish to reddish brown, terete, pubescent, gradually glabrescent, glabrous when young, usually with needle-like prickles. Leaves imparipinnate, (3–)5–7(–9)-foliolate; petiole (2–)3–6 cm, petiolule of terminal leaflet 0.5–1 cm, lateral leaflets subsessile, petiolule and rachis pubescent or subglabrous, with sparse, minute prickles and with glandular hairs; stipules linear, 4–7 mm, pubescent; blade of leaflets ovate, triangular-ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, (1–)2–5(–6) × 1–3 cm, both surfaces pubescent especially along midvein and veins abaxially, base rounded to subcordate, margin sharply or incised doubly serrate, terminal leaflet often pinnately lobed, apex acute to shortly acuminate, but usually acuminate on terminal leaflet. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, 1-flowered, rarely corymbose and 2–4-flowered; rachis and pedicels pubescent, with minute prickles or with sparse, glandular hairs; bracts linear, 4–6 mm, pubescent. Pedicel 2–3.5 cm. Flowers 1–2 cm in diam. Calyx abaxially pubescent, with glandular hairs, with needle-like prickles or nearly unarmed; tube semiglobose; sepals erect, rarely reflexed, linear to lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, 0.8–1.2(–2) cm × 2–4 mm, apex long acuminate. Petals white, oblong, obovate, or suborbicular, 7–9 × 5–6 mm, much shorter than sepals, glabrous, base clawed. Stamens many, unequal in length, longer ones longer than petals, shorter ones nearly as long as or slightly shorter than petals; filaments somewhat broadened and flattened basally. Pistils numerous; ovary soft hairy or subglabrous; styles glabrous or sparsely soft hairy basally. Aggregate fruit red, subglobose, 1–1.5 cm in diam., pubescent or subglabrous; pyrenes ovoid-globose, 2–3 mm, conspicuously rugose. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Jul–Aug. 2n = 14.

Forests, forest margins, grassy slopes, river sides, semishaded wet places in montane valleys, thickets, roadsides; 600--3900 m. Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jilin, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, NW India, Japan, Kashmir, Korea, N Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim; SW Asia].