Herbs perennial, monoecious or dioecious, 45-100 cm tall. Stems ascending or erect, simple or branched, glabrous or puberulent. Leaves alternate; nanophylls absent; stipules linear or lanceolate-linear, 7-10 × 2-3 mm, glabrous, without cystoliths; petiole 2-4 mm; leaf blade obliquely elliptic or oblong, 10-23 × 3.5-8 cm, thinly herbaceous, major basal lateral veins absent and venation pinnate, abaxial surface glabrous or puberulent, adaxial surface sparsely strigillose, cystoliths conspicuous or obscure, dense; base with broader half rounded or auriculate, margin densely dentate, apex acuminate. Male inflorescences solitary, simple, 17-28 × 10-18 mm; peduncle 50-100 mm; receptacle pyriform when young, papilionaceous when mature, 16-27 × 8-15 mm; bracts obscure; bracteoles linear or narrowly linear. Female inflorescences usually 2-clustered, 2-3 mm in diam., sessile; receptacle 1.5-2.5 mm in diam.; bracts triangular; bracteoles linear or spatulate-linear. Male flowers 4- or 5-merous. Fl. Aug-Sep.

Forests, thickets, streamsides, dark damp places or rocks in valleys; 800-2000 m. N Guangxi, Guizhou, W Hunan, Sichuan, NW Yunnan [NE India, Nepal, Sikkim].