Rootstock unknown. Stem twining to right, slender, glabrous. Leaves opposite or alternate, simple; petiole 4--9 cm; leaf blade orbicular or ovate, 4--13 × 3.5--11 cm, glabrous, basal veins 7 or 9, base cordate to broadly so, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Male spikes solitary or 2 or 3 together, 4--12 cm; rachis straight. Male flowers: outer perianth lobes purplish brown dotted, orbicular, ca. 2 mm, apex obtuse, inner ones obovate-orbicular, smaller than outer; stamens 6, anthers nearly as long as filaments. Female spike solitary. Female flowers: outer perianth lobes ovate; staminodes small. Capsule not reflexed, ellipsoid, ca. 2.5 cm, apex not emarginate; wings ca. 0.8 cm wide. Seeds inserted near middle of capsule, winged all round. Fl. Aug--Sep, fr. Aug--Oct.

* Herb communities, mountain valleys; 1600--2100 m. SW Sichuan, N Yunnan.