An erect shrub, 3-5 m tall. Young branches sparsely hairy, older ones glabrous. Leaves 2-8 cm long, 2-6 cm broad, cordate, 3-5 lobed, crenateserrate, lobes often elongated, acute or acuminate, basal nerves 3; petiole 0.5-3.5 cm long, glandular hairy. Racemes c. 5 cm long, polygamo-dio¬ecious. Male racemes l.5-4.5 cm long, 7-30-flowered; female ones 0.5-2 cm long, few flowered. Bracts 2-5 mm long, exceeding the pedicels, glandular and ciliate. Male flowers dark greenish. Calyx tube 2 mm long, somewhat obconical, glabrous or slightly pubescent, lobes c. 2 mm long, lanceolate-ovate, obtuse. Petals purple, minute, clawed, much shorter than the sepals. Stamens scarcely exceeding the petals. Female flowers purple or dark brown, smaller. Style bifid. Berries deep red or scarlet red, 5 mm in diameter.

Fl.Per.: June-Aug.

Type: Described from Garhwal, Gosain Than.

Distribution: S. China, Tibet, Himalayas and Afghanistan.