Herbs perennial, dioecious, 15-45 cm tall. Stems ascending or erect, simple or branched, glabrous or puberulent. Leaves alternate; nanophylls absent; stipules narrowly ovate or linear, 9-18 × 1.5-4.5 mm, glabrous, without cystoliths; petiole 1-4 mm; leaf blade obliquely elliptic or elliptic-ovate, 3-9(-18) × 2-3.5(-6.5) cm, herbaceous, major basal lateral veins both arising at base of leaf blade, rarely 1 arising above base, both surfaces glabrous, or adaxial surface sparsely strigillose; cystoliths obscure, sparse; base with broader half cordate, margin dentate, apex acuminate. Male inflorescences solitary, simple, 4-14 mm in diam.; peduncle 3-60 mm, 0.8-1.2 mm in diam.; receptacle 2-6 mm in diam.; bracts 6, in 1 whorl, connate, cymbiform-ovate, equal, 2-5 mm; bracteoles linear. Female inflorescences solitary, 30-flowered or more, 3-9 mm in diam.; peduncle 0-1 mm; receptacle 2-5 mm in diam.; bracts triangular; bracteoles narrowly oblong. Male flowers 4-merous. Achenes ellipsoid, 10-ribbed. Fl. May-Oct.

Mountain forests, sparse forests, shaded areas on grassy slopes or in valleys; 400-2400 m. N and W Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, W Jiangxi, Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Sikkim, Nepal, Thailand].