Vines woody, often turning black on drying. Branches shallowly 4--10-grooved, puberulous. Leaves 2-pinnate or 2-ternate, distal ones sometimes 1-pinnate; petiole 1--7.5 cm; leaflet blades ovate, narrowly so, or lanceolate, undivided or 3-lobed, 1.5--9.8 × 0.6--5 cm, papery, both surfaces sparsely puberulous or subglabrous, or abaxially densely sericeous, base rounded, subcordate, or broadly cuneate, margin irregularly dentate or entire, apex attenuate or acuminate; basal veins slightly prominent or nearly flat. Cymes both axillary and terminal, (3--) 9- to many flowered; peduncle 2--10 cm, puberulous or glabrous; bracts simple and ovate or linear, or ternate. Flowers 1.4--2.4(--3.6) cm in diam.; pedicel 1--7 cm, puberulous or glabrous. Sepals 4, white, spreading, obovate-oblong to narrowly oblong, 7--12(--16) × 3--5.8(--6) mm, abaxially appressed puberulous or subglabrous, adaxially glabrous, margin velutinous, apex subtruncate, obtuse, or acute. Stamens 5--9(--11) mm, glabrous; anthers oblong or narrowly so, 0.8--2 mm, apex obtuse. Ovaries puberulous or glabrous; style 3.5--5(--7) mm, densely villous. Achenes strongly compressed, orbicular-ovate or suborbicular, 3.5--5 × 2--3.2 mm, puberulous or glabrous, with distinct, winglike margin; persistent style 2--3.5 cm, plumose. Fl. Jul--Oct.

Forests, scrub, grassy slopes, by streams; 200--3300 m. S Anhui, N Fujian, S Gansu, W Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, S and W Henan, Hubei, Hunan, NE Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Shandong, S Shanxi, Sichuan, E to SE Xizang, Yunnan, N Zhejiang [Bhutan, N India, N Myanmar, Nepal].