Shrubs low, to 2 m tall. Branchlets purplish brown, terete, pubescent, with sparse, intermixed stipitate glandular hairs and straight or somewhat curved slender prickles. Leaves imparipinnate, 3-foliolate; petiole 4–8(–10) cm, petiolule of terminal leaflet 2.5–3.5 cm, lateral leaflets subsessile, pubescent, with minute prickles, with sparse, purplish red stipitate glands; stipules linear, 1–1.5 cm, pubescent, sparsely stipitate glandular; blade of leaflets ovate to broadly ovate, 4–8 × 2.5–5.5 cm, both surfaces pubescent along veins, subglabrescent, base broadly cuneate to rounded, subcordate on terminal leaflet, margin irregularly obtusely dentate, often lobed or deeply divided on terminal leaflet, apex shortly acuminate to acuminate. Inflorescences with flowers 1 or 2 in leaf axils; bracts linear, to 1.3 cm, pubescent, sparsely stipitate glandular. Pedicel 1–3 cm, pubescent, with stalked glands and sparse prickles. Flowers 2–3 cm in diam. Calyx purplish red, abaxially pubescent, sparsely stipitate glandular; tube pelviform, with slender prickles; sepals triangular-lanceolate, 8–11 × 3–5 mm, apex long caudate. Petals purplish red. Stamens many; filaments linear. Pistils numerous; ovary glabrous. Aggregate fruit subglobose, glabrous. Fl. summer, fr. Aug–Sep.

Mountainous regions; below 3800 m. S Xizang (Cona Xian) [Bhutan, Sikkim].