Roots thickened. Stems twining, multi-branched, glabrous. Leaves opposite, rarely alternate, long petiolate; blade cordate or cordate-ovate, sometimes becoming trilobate, 2.6-8 × 2-7.5 cm, glabrous or abaxially sometimes sparsely villous, margin dentate or crenate, or rarely entire. Flowers axillary, glabrous throughout. Calyx free from ovary, cleft nearly to base; lobes lanceolate or ovate, rarely narrowly triangular, 8-20 mm. Corolla epigynous, white or yellow-green, purple or reddish inside, campanulate, cleft to middle. Stigma 4- or 5-fid; ovary and berry 5-locular. Berry violet or greenish white suffused with red, globose, 7-26 mm. Seeds irregular in shape, surface reticulate. Fl. and fr. May-Nov.

S Anhui, Fujian, SE Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, N and SW Guizhou, Hainan, W Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, NE India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].