Stem pubescent. Leaves papery, pedately 7-9-foliolate; petiole 4-8 cm; leaflets rhombic-elliptic or obovate-lanceolate, median leaflets 5-12 × 2-4.5 cm, base attenuate, margin irregularly crenate, apex shortly acuminate; lateral leaflets smaller than median leaflets, apex obtuse, abaxially hispid-pubescent on veins, adaxially sparsely pubescent; petiolule ca. 1 cm. Tendrils slender, 2-fid. Male flowers: panicle 10-20 cm, rachis and branches pubescent; bracts linear, ca. 2 mm; pedicel filiform, ca. 4 mm; bracteole linear, ca. 0.7 mm; calyx segments ovate, ca. 1 × 0.5 mm, acute; corolla white; segments narrowly ovate-lanceolate, ca. 2.5 × 1 mm, pubescent, 1-veined, apex long acuminate. Female flowers unknown. Fruit yellow-green, globose, 6-7 mm in diam., glabrous; fruiting pedicel filiform, (8-)15-20 mm, glabrous. Seeds pale gray or brown, compressed cordate, ca. 3 × 3 mm, ca. 1 mm thick.

One of us (Jeffrey) treats this taxon as a synonym of Gynostemma pentaphyllum.

● Forests on valley sides; 1400-3200 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, S Shaanxi, W Sichuan, NE and NW Yunnan.