Vines perennial, herbaceous, unarmed, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Leaves unequal paired, sometimes compound with 1 or 2 pairs of leaflets proximal to main leaflet; petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade elliptic or ovate-hastate, 4-11 × 2-8 cm, sparsely pubescent, base hastate or with 1 or rarely 2 lobes, margin entire, apex acuminate. Inflorescences extra-axillary, lax, open, many-flowered panicles; peduncle 1-3 cm, branched. Pedicel 5-12 mm, sparsely pubescent. Calyx 1.5-2 × 2-3 mm; lobes deltate, sparsely pubescent. Corolla purple, usually with a yellow eye, 5-8 mm; lobes elliptic-lanceolate, ca. 5 mm. Filaments ca. 0.5 mm; anthers connate, 2-3.5 mm. Style slender, ca. 5.5 mm. Berry red, globose or ovoid, 6-8 mm in diam. Seeds discoid, 1.5-2 mm in diam. Fl. summer, fr. autumn.

The solanine contained in the berries can be used for treating rheumatism, arthritis, and skin disease, and used as a pesticide.

Slopes at forest edges; 500-3500. Henan, SW Sichuan, Xinjiang, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Russia; SW Asia, Europe]