Herbs perennial, to 1.5 m, trailing, prostrate, or perhaps climbing, rooting at nodes; pubescence of many-celled straight hairs. Leaves unequal paired; petiole of major leaf 0.8-3 cm, that of minor leaf 2-3 mm, sometimes pubescent; blade of major leaf ovate, elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 3-7 × 2.5-7.5 cm, pubescent on both surfaces or glabrescent abaxially, ciliate, base cuneate, rounded, or cordate, apex acuminate or acute; blade of minor leaf 2-4.5 × 1.2-2.8 cm. Inflorescences 1- (or 2)-flowered fascicles; peduncle absent. Pedicel 8-10 mm. Calyx cup-shaped to campanulate, ca. 5 × 7 mm, 10-veined. Corolla white, pink, or pale purple, stellate, 1.8 cm in diam.; lobes lanceolate, 10 × 3-4 mm, often reflexed at apex, puberulent abaxially. Filaments 1 mm, glabrous; anthers 3-3.5 × 1.2 mm. Ovary glabrous. Style slender, ca. 8 mm. Fruiting pedicel 0.5-1.5 cm. Berry red, globose, ca. 8 mm in diam. Seed ovate-deltate, 1.5-2 mm in diam., finely reticulate.

Lycianthes lysimachioides is a highly variable species, and the varieties recognized here are weak taxonomically and might well be placed in synonymy under the type variety. A series of infraspecific taxa recognized in FRPS (L. lysimachioides var. purpuriflora C. Y. Wu & S. C. Huang, L. lysimachioides var. [unsupported code]osana Bitter, L. lysimachioides var. rotundifolia C. Y. Wu, L. lysimachioides var. cordifolia C. Y. Wu), none of which compete in priority with the names used here, may have taxonomic validity, but this cannot be perceived at this time.

Throughout China [India, Indonesia, Nepal]