Erect shrubs to 2 m tall, with woody stem swollen at base or lower part; branches stout and short, fleshy, sparsely lenticellate. Stipules spiniform, persistent leaf scar large and prominent; petiole 8-10 cm, glabrous; leaf blade peltate, rotund to elliptic, 8-18(-25) × 6-16 cm, nitid green adaxially, gray-green abaxially, glabrous on both surfaces, base truncate or obtuse, margin entire or shallowly 2-6-lobed, apex obtuse; palmate veins 6-8. Inflorescences terminal, long pedunculate, branching short, red; calyx ca. 2 mm; sepals rotund, ca. 1 mm; petals obovate-oblong, ca. 6 mm, red; stamens 6-8, connate at base; anthers nearly as long as filaments; ovary glabrous; styles 3, connate at base, bifid at apex. Capsules ellipsoidal, 1.3-1.8 × ca. 1.5 cm, with 3 longitudinal grooves. Seeds ca. 1.1 cm, smooth. Fl. and fr. almost throughout year.

All parts are used as medicine for reduction of swelling, for pain relief, and to detoxify snakebites.

Cultivated for medicine and ornamental purposes. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [native to Central America; widely introduced].