Herbs perennial, stoloniferous, glabrous, dioecious or monoecious. Stems often reddish, brownish when dry, simple or few branched, angled at base, 10-25 cm tall, somewhat succulent. Stipules persistent, greenish, broadly ovate, 1-2 mm, herbaceous, obtuse at apex; petioles subequal in length, 0.5-2.5 cm; leaf blade abaxially pale green or purplish, adaxially dark green or gray-green, elliptic or ovate, subequal in size, 1-4 × 0.7-2.5 cm, subleathery, 3-veined, very prominent adaxially, lateral veins several, irregular, inconspicuous, base broadly rounded or cuneate, margin crenate-serrate, apex acute or obtuse. Inflorescences solitary; male inflorescence a few branched cyme, longer than leaves, peduncule 2-5 cm; female cymes often compacted into clusters, 0.5-1 cm, subsessile or shortly pedunculate. Male flowers pedicellate, in bud ca. 1.5 mm; perianth lobes 4, ovate-oblong, subapically corniculate; stamens 4; rudimentary ovary small, conic. Female flowers subsessile; perianth lobes connate at base, unequal, abaxial lobe cymbiform, longer, subapically corniculate; staminodes 3, squamiform, oblong. Achene obliquely ovoid, ca. 0.8 mm, slightly compressed, inconspicuously verrucose. Fl. Apr-Sep, fr. Jun-Oct.

* Shaded wet places on rocks or along streams, near streams in forests; 1000-2000 m. NW Fujian, SW Hubei, Sichuan, NE Yunnan.