Vines woody. Branches shallowly 8--10-grooved, sparsely puberulous, glabrescent. Leaves usually 2-pinnate, sometimes 1-pinnate; petiole 1.2--6 cm; leaflet blades broadly lanceolate, narrowly ovate, ovate, or elliptic, 1--4.2 × 0.5--2.4 cm, papery, often 2- or 3-lobed near base or undivided, abaxially appressed puberulous, adaxially glabrous or sparsely appressed puberulous, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin usually entire or sometimes to 2-denticulate; basal veins abaxially nearly flat; terminal lobes largest, lanceolate to narrowly ovate. Flowers solitary and terminal or in axillary 1--3-flowered cymes, 2--4.5 cm in diam.; peduncle 1--4 cm; bracts foliaceous. Pedicel 2--13.5 cm, puberulous or glabrous. Sepals 4, yellow, yellow-brown, or brown-purple, ascending, broadly ovate, ovate, oblong, or lanceolate, 1.5--2.8 × 0.6--1.7 cm, abaxially glabrous or sparsely puberulous, adaxially appressed puberulous, apex acute, caudate-acuminate, or acuminate. Stamens 5--11 mm; filaments puberulous; anthers narrowly oblong to oblong, 1.6--4 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse or minutely apiculate. Ovaries pubescent. Style 0.6--1.5 cm, densely villous. Fl. May--Jul.

Slopes, scrub, grassy areas, gravelly river banks; 2200--4800 m. SW Sichuan, Xizang [N India, W Nepal].